Fall Severe Weather Awareness Day

Just a few tidbits of information on Fall Severe Weather across Alabama and Mississippi from the NWS. The MAIN window (but not the only window) for our Fall Severe Weather is November 1- December 15. Here are some significant Fall severe weather events in Alabama.

December 16, 2000 – 12 tornadoes across the state, including an EF4 in Tuscaloosa County

November 24 & 25, 2001 – 36 tornadoes in 24 hours, the largest outbreak ever documented in Alabama

November 10, 2002 – The “Veteran’s Day Outbreak,” with 11 tornadoes (including 2 EF3s)

November 23 & 24, 2004 – 21 tornadoes across the state, including 16 in Central Alabama

November 15, 2006 – 14 tornadoes statewide including 8 across Central Alabama, including “The Fun Zone” tornado in Montgomery ( click title for link to news story on this tornado Rated F2)

* 2009: Severe thunderstorms produced widespread wind damage across much of North Alabama and Southern Middle Tennessee on October 9th. An EF-1 tornado touched down just south of Fayetteville, Tennessee resulting in extensive damage around the Timber Lake community.
* 2007: Severe thunderstorms caused considerable straight-line wind damage across Northwest Alabama on October 18th. An EF-1 tornado tracked into southern Lawrence County, downing several trees in Bankhead National Forest.
* 2004: Severe weather occurred before the typical November secondary peak. Tornadoes struck Lauderdale and Colbert Counties on October 18th (check out the storm survey here).
* 2003: A significant line of thunderstorms plowed through the Tennessee Valley on November 18th, resulting in significant straight-line wind damage. Damaging wind gusts can be just as destructive as tornadoes.
* 2002: The infamous Veteran's Day Tornado Outbreak produced an F3 tornado in Cullman County, which damaged more than 150 structures (check out the storm survey here).
* 2001: Six of the eight tornadoes that hit Northern Alabama this year occurred with the November 24th outbreak. This event broke a record for the number of tornadoes that occurred during a 24-hour period in the state of Alabama.
* Of course, the infamous 1989 Huntsville tornado occurred in November as well. This F4 tornado (207-260 mph winds) tore through south Huntsville on November 15, 1989, touching down on Redstone Arsenal at 4:30pm. The tornado eventually killed 21 people, injured more than 460 people, and caused more than $250 million in damages.

Mississippi

# November 21-22, 1992 - Large tornado outbreak, 14 total tornadoes with 1 long track F4 (128 miles), 5th longest. This tornado is more widely known as the Brandon Tornado. A total of 12 fatalities occurred during that horrific night
# November 24, 2001 - Large tornado outbreak, 14 total tornadoes, 2 F4s and 2F3s. One of the F4s was the Fairfield Tornado. A total of 7 fatalities occurred across the region that early morning -Event Summary
# November 10-11, 2002 - Veterans Day Outbreak, MS was on the southern end of the event but still had 7 total tornadoes - Event Summary
# November 18, 2003 - A squall line moved across the region producing widespread wind damage
# November 24, 2004 - Large tornado outbreak, 21 total tornadoes, 1 fatality - Event Summary
# November 15, 2006 - Tornado event across southeast MS, 2 F3s - Event Summary

# November 21, 1997 - a strong tornado moved across St Tammany Parish, Louisiana, and continued into Pearl River County, Mississippi. Covington, Louisiana, and surrounding areas were particularly hard hit with nearly 70 homes damaged and 4 downtown buildings damaged. 47 people suffered mainly minor injuries.


# October 29, 2002 - a weak tornado moved across the southeast portion of the Baton Rouge area during the early morning hours, knocking down trees and damaging house roofs. Straight-line wind damage occurred in several other areas from Baton Rouge area eastward to Pearl Rive County, Mississippi.


# November 24, 2004 - damaging straight-line winds and several tornadoes were reported during the early morning hours in an area from near Baton Rouge eastward into coastal Mississippi. A strong tornado touched near the Slidell airport damaging 152 homes in a nearby subdivision. The same storm system produced another strong tornado that touched down around sunrise just north of Gulfport. The tornado damaged homes and businesses. Fortunately only a few relatively minor injuries were reported. Straight-line wind damage occurred in other areas of southeast Louisiana and south Mississippi.


# November 15, 2006 - Severe thunderstorms produced tornadoes as they tracked across areas north of Lake Pontchartrain into southwest Mississippi during the early morning hours. Several strong tornadoes touched down from east of Greensburg, Louisiana, across northern Washington Parish to east of Tylertown, Mississippi. Unfortunately, one fatality occurred near Montpelier in St Helena Parish when a strong tornado struck a house and adjacent trailer.


# October 17, 2007 - Two weak tornadoes moved through the Franklinton area in Washington Parish in the afternoon. These tornadoes severely damaged the roofs of several businesses, shattered windows, moved a car 15 feet, and uprooted numerous trees.

These are just a few events across the State. So just because it is not spring time please do not let your guard down.