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F0 tornado in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama

Tornado May 9, 1998 · Tuscaloosa County, Alabama

Rating

6.5 mi

Whole path

60 yd

Path width

$40K

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Pickens County → Tuscaloosa County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 60 yards (0.03 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F0 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F0 meant light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken; the scale paired it with winds of 40–72 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

The wider storm

A weak tornado touched down in a wooded area south of Gordo producing damage along a 6.5 mile track crossing from Pickens County into Tuscaloosa County. Damage was primarily in the form of downed trees though several structures sustained minor damage. This tornado apparently came out of the same thunderstorm that produced the weak tornado on the north side of Carrollton earlier. This tornado damage path also crossed the damage path that occurred with the F3 tornado on April 8, 1998.

Began near Holman (33.3000, -87.8500).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5646616. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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