EF0 tornado, Tanner to Holland Gin, Alabama, May 17, 2013

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

May 17, 2013

Touchdown

2:00 PM CDT (19:00 UTC)

Lifted

2:07 PM CDT (19:07 UTC)

On the ground

7 minutes

Path length

2.0 miles (3.3 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$50,000

County

Limestone County

Touchdown point

34.760, -86.975

Lift-off point

34.787, -86.959

Record number

1305171300-01

A broad upper level low pressure system moving through the Tennessee valley region produced an area of low topped showers and thunderstorms. One of these showers became a miniature supercell and produced two weak, short-lived tornadoes in Limestone County -- one which tracked into the Athens area. This cell produced little or no lightning during its lifetime.

A short-lived tornado initially touched down along Roy Long Road just west of Highway 31. Several trees were snapped and uprooted around a residential property. The residence itself sustained minor damage as narrow wooden front porch pillars were broken and shifted by the wind. Based upon this damage, the maximum winds were determined to be around 75 mph, which is a mid range EF-0 tornado. ||The tornado skipped northeast with additional damage along Highway 72, just west of Highway 31. Multiple signs atop a large metal pole were blown out and a portion of the metal siding was ripped off. The tornado weakened after this point, and lifted just northeast of the damaged location.

This very short-lived tornado was part of the same storm that produced the tornado across the southern portion of Athens, Alabama, earlier. Damage was in less than a quarter of a mile swath between residences along either side of Hardiman Lane. Several residences sustained minor roof damage with shingles blown off. One residence sustained structural damage, as a portion of the bricks were cracked and beginning to pull away from the foundation. Several larger trees around the residences were snapped or uprooted. Maximum winds were estimated to be at 70 mph at this location. ||Just north of Hardiman lane, a barn sustained roof damage as a significant portion of the metal roof had been pulled off. The tornado rapidly lifted just northeast of this damage location.

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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:46 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), 82 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:58 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 2013 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

6 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.