Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2010
EF0 tornado, Hatchett, Alabama, November 30, 2010
This EF0 tornado ran 1.7 miles across Clay County on November 30, 2010, touching down at 10:14 AM CST and reaching 40 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.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- November 30, 2010
- Touchdown
- 10:14 AM CST (16:14 UTC)
- Lifted
- 10:16 AM CST (16:16 UTC)
- On the ground
- 2 minutes
- Path length
- 1.7 miles (2.7 km)
- Path width
- 40 yards (37 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $15,000
- County
- Clay County
- Touchdown point
- 33.112, -86.066
- Lift-off point
- 33.125, -86.042
- Record number
- 1011301014-01
What the Weather Service recorded
A powerful late fall storm system, and associated cold frontal passage through Alabama, brought widespread thunderstorms to the state. Some of the storms in Central Alabama produced damaging winds and tornadoes.
The tornado touched down about 4.5 miles east of Hollins, near the Brownsville Community, just south of Chapman Road on Brownsville Loop Road. Much of the damage path was very minor and consisted of tree limb damage. The most significant damage occurred along CR-7 just north of Partridge Creek Road. Several trees were either uprooted or snapped off in this area. One vehicle suffered moderate damage due to a fallen tree. The tornado lifted just after it crossed CR-7.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
1 minute of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 16:13 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 16:45 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 09:49 UTC and running to 18:00 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 09:49 UTC | 18:00 UTC | Tornado Watch | BMX |
| 14:27 UTC | 15:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX |
| 15:16 UTC | 16:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX |
| 15:45 UTC | 16:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX |
| 16:13 UTC | 16:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | BMX |
| 16:27 UTC | 17:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX |
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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:41 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
4.2 hours before the tornado, 68 km from the path. November 30, 2010.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 444 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -1 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 137 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 484 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 58 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 42 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 385 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 473 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.2
- Supercell composite
- 4.2
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.2 K/km
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), 00:00Z
7.8 hours after it, 68 km from the path. December 1, 2010.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -74464 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 10 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 514 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 91 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 29 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -355 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -282 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 2.4 K/km
The radar
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 67 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 16:13 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14:53 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Se Shelby | Shelby, AL | A FEW TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN NEAR COUNTY ROAD 47 AND WAXAHATCHEE ROAD. |
| 14:54 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Chelsea | Shelby, AL | TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN AT JUNCTIONS OF CHELSEA RD AT LIBERTY ROAD AND MEADOW LAKE LANE. |
| 15:15 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Sw Talladega Superspe | Talladega, AL | WIND BLEW CARS OFF THE ROAD ALONG AL HWY 77N. ALSO TWISTED ROAD SIGNS. |
| 15:20 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Sw Talladega Superspe | Talladega, AL | WIND BLEW CARS OFF THE ROAD ALONG AL HWY 77N. ALSO TWISTED ROAD SIGNS. |
| 15:22 UTC | NON-TSTM WND DMG | 2 S Sylacauga | Talladega, AL | VOLUNTEER FIRE REPORTED A LARGE TREE DOWN BLOCKING THE ROADWAY ON ROCK HOUSE ROAD AND OLD TREMMEL ROAD. |
| 15:33 UTC | TSTM WND GST 46 | Oxford | Calhoun, AL | HAM WEATHER STATION ON MUDD STREET RECORDED 46 MPH WINDS. |
| 16:14 UTC | TORNADO 0 | 5 Nnw Goodwater | Clay, AL | A WEAK TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN APPROXIMATELY 4.5 MILES EAST OF HOLLINS NEAR THE BROWNSVILLE COMMUNITY. THE MOST SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE OCCURRED ALONG COUNTY ROAD 7 NORTH OF PARTRIDGE CREEK ROAD. SEVERAL TREES WERE EITHER UPROOT |
| 16:15 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 N Goodwater | Clay, AL | SEVERAL TREES DOWN ON BROWNSVILLE LOOP NEAR HATCHETT CREEK. |
| 16:23 UTC | TORNADO 0 | Dexter | Elmore, AL | SEVERAL TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN OR WERE UPROOTED ALONG THE PATH. A FEW HOMES SUFFERED MINOR ROOF DAMAGE AND OUTBUILDINGS WERE DAMAGED. |
| 16:26 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Dexter | Elmore, AL | MINOR ROOF DAMAGE AND SIDING DAMAGE TO A HOME. |
| 16:35 UTC | TORNADO | Dexter | Elmore, AL | TORNADO TOUCHDOWN REPORTED. SEVERAL TREES DOWN INCLUDING ONE IN THE 2500 BLOCK OF DEXTER ROAD. MINOR ROOF DAMAGE TO A HOME ON MOUNT ZION ROAD AND CR-49. |
| 16:45 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Eclectic | Elmore, AL | A LARGE TREE LIMB BROKE OFF AND HEAVILY DAMAGED A VEHICLE. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2010 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of November 30, 2010
15 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 30 | 12:38 AM CST | EF0 | Saint Landry Parish, LA | 1.0 | 25 | $5,000 | ||
| November 30 | 12:46 AM CST | EF0 | Saint Landry Parish, LA | 1.3 | 25 | $5,000 | ||
| November 30 | 1:41 AM CST | EF1 | Lamar, AL | 1.4 | 150 | $145,000 | ||
| November 30 | 2:44 AM CST | EF2 | Smith, MS | 11.0 | 600 | $900,000 | ||
| November 30 | 2:50 AM CST | EF0 | Amite, MS | 4.8 | 25 | $5,000 | ||
| November 30 | 4:15 AM CST | EF1 | Perry, AL | 0.1 | 50 | $25,000 | ||
| November 30 | 5:50 AM CST | EF0 | Jones, MS | 7.0 | 30 | $70,000 | ||
| November 30 | 7:09 AM CST | EF1 | Blount, AL | 1.7 | 150 | $26,000 | ||
| November 30 | 7:40 AM CST | EF0 | Hancock, MS | 0.1 | 25 | $1,000 | ||
| November 30 | 9:57 AM CST | EF1 | Autauga, AL | 5.8 | 150 | $58,000 | ||
| November 30 | 10:23 AM CST | EF0 | Elmore, AL | 6.7 | 100 | $35,000 | ||
| November 30 | 3:38 PM EST | EF2 | Gwinnett, GA | 2.1 | 100 | $5.0 million | ||
| November 30 | 4:12 PM EST | EF0 | Butts, GA | 2.7 | 50 | $256,000 | ||
| November 30 | 7:45 PM EST | EF1 | Pickens, SC | 2.7 | 125 | $1.5 million | ||
| November 30 | 9:39 PM EST | EF1 | Laurens, SC | 2.0 | 200 | $50,000 |
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.