Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2009

EF0 tornado, Maylene to Alabaster, Alabama, March 26, 2009

From Maylene to Alabaster, this EF0 tornado ran 3.7 miles across Shelby County on March 26, 2009, touching down at 5:04 AM CDT and reaching 35 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $15,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. EF2111 to 135 mph

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. EF3136 to 165 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. EF4166 to 200 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. EF5over 200 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
March 26, 2009
Touchdown
5:04 AM CDT (10:04 UTC)
Lifted
5:08 AM CDT (10:08 UTC)
On the ground
4 minutes
Path length
3.7 miles (6.0 km)
Path width
35 yards (32 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$15,000
County
Shelby County
Touchdown point
33.214, -86.862
Lift-off point
33.235, -86.803
Record number
0903260404-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A cold front pushing through the area brought a line of thunderstorms that caused high winds and two tornadoes.

The tornado touched down near the intersection of Kent Dairy Road and CR-17, near Maylene. It then moved east-northeast through the old Siluria section of Alabaster, causing sporadic damage, and lifted on the east side of Interstate 65 near exit 238. Numerous trees were snapped and uprooted, and three homes were damaged along the path due to falling trees.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 06:36 UTC and running to 11:42 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
03:00 UTC14:15 UTCFlash Flood WatchBMX
06:36 UTC11:42 UTCTornado WatchBMX
10:12 UTC10:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMX

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:33 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), 00:00Z

10.1 hours before the tornado, 7 km from the path. March 26, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Birmingham, AL at 00:00Z on 2009-03-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1 joules per kilogram, CIN -41, lifted condensation level 599 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Birmingham, AL at 00:00Z on 2009-03-26The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 151 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 54 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-41 J/kg
Surface CAPE
13 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
599 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
54 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
151 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
98 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), 12:00Z

1.9 hours after it, 7 km from the path. March 26, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 2009-03-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 8 joules per kilogram, CIN -86, lifted condensation level 710 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 2009-03-26The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 245 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 53 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
8 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-86 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
710 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
53 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
245 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
283 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Alabaster (EET), 7 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
08:53 UTC6260160° 11 kt181009.8-RA
09:53 UTC6361170° 13 kt211009.1-RA
10:01 UTC62.660.8180° 10 kt201009.5VCTS -RA
10:10 UTC62.660.8250° 21 kt351013.5+TSRA BR
10:15 UTC57.255.4210° 7 kt351012.2+TSRA BR
10:21 UTC57.255.4 5 kt161011.9+TSRA BR
10:33 UTC57.255.4180° 8 kt1011.5VCTS RA BR
10:38 UTC57.255.4190° 7 kt1011.2VCTS RA BR
10:53 UTC5756170° 9 kt1010.8VCTS RA BR
11:11 UTC57.257.2170° 7 kt1010.5VCTS +RA BR
11:24 UTC57.257.2170° 10 kt1010.2VCTS -RA BR
11:32 UTC57.257.2170° 5 kt141009.8-RA
11:53 UTC5958180° 6 kt1010.2

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 8 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 10:02 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
09:50 UTCTORNADO3 Sw AlabasterShelby, ALNUMEROUS TREES SNAPPED AND UPROOTED.THREE HOMES DAMAGED FROM FALLING TREES.
10:05 UTCTSTM WND DMGHelenaShelby, ALTREES DOWN BLOCKING ROY DR AND WAGE ST.
10:05 UTCTSTM WND GST 552 N CaleraShelby, ALLARGE MOVEABLE AGGREGATE CONVEYOR BELT SYSTEM PUSHED PAST EMERGENCY STOP CAUSING SUPERSTRUCTURE TO BUCKLE AND COLLAPSE.
10:06 UTCTSTM WND DMGAlabasterShelby, ALAT THE ASHFORD HEIGHTS SUBDIVISION TREES WERE SNAPPED OFF...SHINGLES BLOWN AWAY FROM HOMES AND NUMEROUS MAILBOX DOORS WERE PULLED OPEN BY WINDS. POSSIBLE TORNADO.
10:12 UTCTSTM WND DMGAlabasterShelby, ALTREE DOWN ON MOBILE HOME ON 5TH AVE SE.
10:20 UTCHAIL 0.256 Nnw ChelseaShelby, ALREPORTED IN THE EAGLE POINT COMMUNITY.
10:25 UTCTSTM WND DMGBirminghamJefferson, AL18 WHEELER OVERTURNED ON INTERSTATE 65 IN DOWNTOWN...WINDS ESTIMATED 50 TO 55 MPH.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2009 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of March 26, 2009

12 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 261:36 AM CDTEF3Simpson, MS17.450025$5.0 million
March 261:58 AM CDTEF1Tangipahoa Parish, LA0.850$60,000
March 262:31 AM CDTEF1Jasper, MS19.45001$2.0 million
March 262:43 AM CDTEF2Jones, MS9.95001$800,000
March 263:20 AM CDTEF1Fayette, AL3.6100$60,000
March 263:43 AM CDTEF0Saint Tammany Parish, LA0.125$750
March 266:33 AM CDTEF0Jackson, MS0.150$18,000
March 266:55 AM CDTEF1Escambia, AL2.41,000$30,000
March 267:20 PM CDTEF0Montague, TX0.230
March 268:34 PM CDTEF0Cooke, TX0.330
March 2611:12 PM CDTEF1Ascension Parish, LA1.850$120,000
March 2611:28 PM CDTEF0Livingston Parish, LA0.2150$3,000

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.