Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2009

EF0 tornado, Lomax, Alabama, September 16, 2009

This EF0 tornado ran 0.7 miles across Chilton County on September 16, 2009, touching down at 10:58 AM CDT and reaching 30 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 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
September 16, 2009
Touchdown
10:58 AM CDT (15:58 UTC)
Lifted
11:00 AM CDT (16:00 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
0.7 miles (1.1 km)
Path width
30 yards (27 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$10,000
County
Chilton County
Touchdown point
32.874, -86.660
Lift-off point
32.882, -86.655
Record number
0909160958-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A slow moving upper level disturbance helped spark several days of thunderstorms across Central Alabama. The storms were slow moving, and produced very heavy rainfall in some locations, which led to flash flooding.

The tornado touched down near the intersection of Reed Road and Judge Avenue, where it removed a few shingles off of a home and peeled back the tin roof of an outbuilding. It continued north-northeastward across Old Henry Road, to the intersection of US-31 and Lomax Drive. Eyewitnesses at this location photographed the tornado as it moved away. A metal roof was totally lifted off of an outbuilding, with portions of this debris deposited nearly a half mile downstream. Damage was|relatively minor and limited to a very narrow yet discernible path. Peak winds were estimated between 60 and 70 mph.

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.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
17:23 UTC18:15 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 12:55 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), 12:00Z

4.0 hours before the tornado, 35 km from the path. September 16, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 2009-09-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1274 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 460 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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 2009-09-16The 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 43 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 20 knots.193958Sfc1 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
1274 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1257 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
460 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
43 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
37 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), 00:00Z

8.0 hours after it, 35 km from the path. September 17, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Birmingham, AL at 00:00Z on 2009-09-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1011 joules per kilogram, CIN -60, lifted condensation level 705 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 2009-09-17The 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 -11 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 18 knots.1939Sfc1 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
1011 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-60 J/kg
Surface CAPE
905 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
705 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-11 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
19 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Alabaster (EET), 35 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
14:15 UTC75.273.4150° 4 kt1013.5
14:53 UTC7973160° 5 kt1013.9
15:03 UTC78.873.4160° 6 kt1013.9
15:10 UTC78.871.6160° 8 kt1013.9
15:53 UTC7772130° 5 kt1013.9
16:07 UTC78.873.4140° 7 kt1013.9
16:14 UTC78.873.4160° 7 kt1013.9
16:53 UTC8272160° 6 kt141013.5
17:53 UTC8072150° 9 kt151013.5

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

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 34 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 15:56 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
15:58 UTCTORNADO 0LomaxChilton, ALMINOR ROOF DAMAGE TO A FEW HOMES AND BUSINESSES IN LOMAX. PATH LENGTH OF 0.66 MILES WITH A WIDTH OF 30 YARDS AT ITS WIDEST POINT.

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

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.