EF0 tornado, Rainbow City, Alabama, September 4, 2011

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

September 4, 2011

Touchdown

3:50 PM CDT (20:50 UTC)

Lifted

3:51 PM CDT (20:51 UTC)

On the ground

1 minutes

Path length

0.7 miles (1.1 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$30,000

County

Etowah County

Touchdown point

33.948, -86.042

Lift-off point

33.958, -86.046

Record number

1109041450-01

4 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BMX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 80 mph.

• A few softwood and hardwood trees uprooted. Beginning point of Rainbow City EF-0 Tornado (Tropical Storm Lee)
• Rainbow City City Hall received damage, including HVAC units being dispaced from the roof.
• Spring Lake Lodge apartment complex sustained minor shingle and tree damage.
• Several trees uprooted. End point of Rainbow City EF-0 Tornado (Tropical Storm Lee)

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

A tropical depression developed in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, September 1 and strengthened as it remained nearly stationary becoming Tropical Storm Lee Friday afternoon, September 2. Tropical Storm Lee slowly moved northward toward the central Louisiana coast, eventually making landfall Sunday, September 4 near Vermillion Bay, LA, with maximum sustained wind speeds of 45 mph. Rain bands spread northward into Central Alabama Saturday afternoon, September 3, skirting the southwest corner of the area for approximately 6 hours before pushing further north across west Central Alabama. Moderate to heavy rainfall finally moved into other portions of the area overnight and continued through Sunday, September 4. Lee was downgraded to an extratropical cyclone early Monday morning, September 5. As the remnants of Lee interacted with an approaching cold front, heavy rainfall and gusty winds continued to affect Central Alabama through late Monday evening, September 7. ||The remnants of Tropical Storm Lee brought beneficial rainfall to Central Alabama over several days. However, an extended period of heavy rainfall led to significant flash flooding across portions of north Central Alabama, including the Birmingham metro area. First Responders across the Birmingham area conducted at least 30 water rescues as heavy rainfall caused widespread urban flooding and area creeks to rise out their banks, flooding nearby streets and neighborhoods. In addition, two tornadoes touched down and strong gradient winds caused widespread damage across many counties. ||An area of maximum rainfall stretched from southwest to northeast along and north of the Interstate 59 corridor, with more than 8 inches of event total rainfall in many locations. The Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport set a new record for maximum daily rainfall with 7.11 inches on Monday, September 5. The previous record was 2.1 inches set in 1949. Longtime COOP Observer in Pinson Alabama, James B. Price, has been taking observations since January 1, 1951. The remnants of Tropical Storm Lee set a new record daily maximum rainfall of 8.94 inches on Monday, September 5 in Pinson. The previous record for September 5 was 1.2 inches set in 1968. Also, the 8.94 inches on September 5, 2011 breaks the all time record of rainfall received on any calendar day in Pinson. The previous record was 6.85 inches set on March 19, 1970.

An EF0 tornado, associated with Tropical Storm Lee, with estimated peak winds of 80 MPH touched down in Rainbow City. After touching down near Hill St, the tornado took a turn to the northwest, crossing U.S. Highway 411 west of Bland St. The tornado turn back to the north and lifted near Irene St., west of Alabama Highway 77. Ten to 15 pine trees were snapped and a few hardwood trees were uprooted. Several HVAC units were blown off the roof of Rainbow City Hall on U.S. Highway 411 and minor structural damage occurred at the Spring Lake Lodge Apartments.

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

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

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:58 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 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.

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 109 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:48 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.

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

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2011 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

13 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

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