TornadoLookup

Home / Alabama / Houston

EF0 tornado in Houston County, Alabama

Tornado October 8, 2008 · Houston County, Alabama

EF0
Rating
4.0 mi
Path length
75 yd
Path width
$75K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 75 yards (0.04 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

A fast-moving supercell spawned a tornado just north of U.S. Highway 84 near the intersection of State Road 123, where it destroyed a barn. It then moved to the northeast, and damaged a few vehicles at an auto dealership and uprooted some trees near the Dale-Houston county line. It crossed from western Houston County into southeastern Dale County, and remained on the ground for nearly a mile before lifting. The tornado was rated an EF-0.

The wider storm

Several lines of strong to severe thunderstorms formed ahead of a cold front and strong low pressure system over southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, and moved into portions of southeast Alabama during the afternoon of the 8th.

Began near Wicksburg (31.2434, -85.6300).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

5 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF1 Coffee CountyEF0 Dale CountyEF0 Dale CountyEF0 Dale CountyEF0 Henry County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 138283. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.