EF0 tornado, Cusseta, Alabama, November 1, 2018

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

November 1, 2018

Touchdown

12:12 PM CDT (17:12 UTC)

Lifted

12:16 PM CDT (17:16 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

2.6 miles (4.3 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Lee and Chambers counties

Touchdown point

32.739, -85.289

Lift-off point

32.753, -85.249

Record number

1811011112-01

A QLCS moved across Central Alabama during the morning and early afternoon hours on November 1st. Due to very limited instability, minimal lightning was observed with the convective line. However, low level shear and helicity values were high enough to produce a weak tornado over far eastern Alabama.

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in extreme southern Chambers County and determined that it was consistent with an EF0 tornado, with maximum sustained winds near 65 mph. The tornado formed at the Wooshin USA plant between Chambers County Road 177 and Interstate 85. Lightweight bin liners were lofted into the air and strewn downstream, and some empty bins were blown over. The tornado moved over the Ajin USA plant where portions of the top of a rooftop air conditioning unit were peeled off, and the unit was shifted slightly, causing very minor damage to the roof. The tornado continued northeastward and entered the far northwest corner of Lee County.

This tornado was a continuation of the Chambers County tornado. It was on the ground in Lee County for less than one minute as it crossed through the extreme northwest tip of the county.

This tornado was a continuation of the Chambers County tornado. The tornado tracked northeastward, damaging the corner facade of the Shelton Fireworks Store located just west of Interstate 85. The tornado then crossed Interstate 85 at the Chambers County Road 388 exit, where little to no damage was apparent. The tornado greatly weakened at this time. One tree was blown down pointing upstream near the end of Chambers County Road 495. As the tornado approached Chambers County Road 519, one tree was uprooted and a tin overhang attached to a mobile home was completely removed and blown downstream. The tornado quickly dissipated near Chambers County Road 519.

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 Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:29 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.

Auburn-Opelika Apt (AUO), 21 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

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 2018 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

34 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.