Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2015

EF0 tornado, Hayes, Alabama, January 4, 2015

This EF0 tornado ran 0.6 miles across Henry County on January 4, 2015, touching down at 7:25 AM CST and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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
January 4, 2015
Touchdown
7:25 AM CST (13:25 UTC)
Lifted
7:26 AM CST (13:26 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.6 miles (0.9 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Henry County
Touchdown point
31.522, -85.086
Lift-off point
31.524, -85.077
Record number
1501040725-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A strong upper level trough and cold front moved through the area during the morning and early afternoon hours. A squall line accompanied the front, and a few tornadoes and instances of straight line wind damage were reported.

A brief EF0 tornado touched down in eastern Henry county in a rural area. No structural damage was reported, but trees were blown down and dual-pol radar revealed a small tornadic debris signature (TDS).

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

The warnings

13 minutes of warning. NWS TAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 13:12 UTC, 13 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 13:34 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
12:38 UTC13:15 UTCTornado WarningTAE
13:12 UTC13:34 UTCTornado WarningTAE

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 12:52 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.

Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), 12:00Z

1.4 hours before the tornado, 145 km from the path. January 4, 2015.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 12:00Z on 2015-01-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 300 joules per kilogram, CIN -5, lifted condensation level 484 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, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 12:00Z on 2015-01-04The 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 210 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 57 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
300 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-5 J/kg
Surface CAPE
214 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
484 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
57 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
210 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
208 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.3
Supercell composite
1.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), 00:00Z

10.6 hours after it, 145 km from the path. January 5, 2015.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 00:00Z on 2015-01-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 99 joules per kilogram, CIN -20, lifted condensation level 502 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, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 00:00Z on 2015-01-05The 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 59 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 63 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
99 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-20 J/kg
Surface CAPE
111 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
502 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
63 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
59 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
40 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Blakely (BIJ), 23 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
11:35 UTC69.868180° 5 kt1018.3
11:55 UTC69.868190° 3 kt1018.6
12:15 UTC69.868180° 3 kt1018.6
12:35 UTC69.8680° 0 kt1018.6
12:55 UTC69.869.80° 0 kt1019VCTS
13:15 UTC71.669.80° 0 kt1019VCTS
13:35 UTC69.869.8190° 5 kt1019TSRA
13:55 UTC69.868250° 11 kt191020.3+TSRA
14:15 UTC6866.20° 0 kt1020RA
14:35 UTC68680° 0 kt1020-TSRA
14:55 UTC6868180° 3 kt1020.3-RA
15:15 UTC6868190° 6 kt1020.3RA

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

The radar

The Ft Rucker radar (KEOX), 37 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 13:24 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
12:28 UTCTSTM WND DMGMidland CityDale, ALDAMAGE TO BASEBALL FIELDS AT DALE COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL.
12:28 UTCTSTM WND DMGPinckardDale, ALDAMAGE TO STRUCTURES NEAR COUNTY ROAD 55 AND COUNTY ROAD 9.
12:28 UTCTORNADO 0PinckardDale, ALDAMAGE TO STRUCTURES NEAR COUNTY ROAD 55 AND COUNTY ROAD 9.
12:30 UTCTSTM WND DMGPinckardDale, ALTREES DOWN CLOSE TO THE FIRE DEPARTMENT NEAR PINCKARD.
12:30 UTCTORNADO 0Midland CityDale, ALDAMAGE TO BASEBALL FIELDS AT DALE COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL.
13:10 UTCTSTM WND DMGHeadlandHenry, ALTREES DOWN ON COUNTY ROAD 99.
13:34 UTCTSTM WND DMGPinckardDale, ALTREES DOWN CLOSE TO THE FIRE DEPARTMENT NEAR PINCKARD.
13:34 UTCTSTM WND DMGPinckardDale, ALTREE AND POWELINES DOWN AT COUNTY ROAD 55 AND COUNTY ROAD 9.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2015 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of January 4, 2015

10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
January 43:11 AM CSTEF2Crenshaw, AL14.3100$200,000
January 46:27 AM CSTEF0Dale, AL1.550$10,000
January 46:30 AM CSTEF0Dale, AL0.050$5,000
January 411:27 AM ESTEF1Tift, GA0.3100$3,000
January 411:32 AM ESTEF0Pulaski, GA0.250$15,000
January 411:44 AM ESTEF0Pulaski, GA2.2100$10,000
January 411:45 AM ESTEF1Tift, GA0.3100$10,000
January 411:55 AM ESTEF1Dodge, GA0.3120$3,000
January 41:03 PM ESTEF1Bacon, GA4.8502
January 43:03 PM ESTEF1Chatham, GA3.0440

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.