Veterans Day Tornado Outbreak - November 10, 2002

November 10, 2002...Veterans Day Tornado Outbreak

Map of November 10, 2002, Tornado Outbreak

Several ingredients, including:

a warm and unstable airmass,
wind shear in the low levels
strong upper level winds
and a cold front pushing into the state

...combined to bring severe thunderstorms and tornadoes to a large portion of North and Central Alabama Sunday night and early Monday morning. Several destructive tornadoes in the north half of the state caused widespread damage and numerous fatalities and injuries.

Meteorologists from the National Weather Service conducted extensive on-site surveys of the destruction caused by the tornadoes. While the initial estimate was 12 to 15 tornadoes, we now believe that 11 tornadoes actually occurred. The tornado count was reduced primarily because of the long track nature of two of the most intense storms.

The following table contains the essential information on each of the tornadoes, presented chronologically. The tornado names link to separate pages with details concerning each tornado, including damage path maps and photos.

Tornado Name	Counties Affected	F-rating	Begin Time (CST)	End Time (CST)	Length (miles)	Width (yards)	Deaths	Injuries
Carbon Hill Tornado	Fayette-Walker-Winston	F-3	6:52 pm	7:45 pm	44.3	1175	4	10
Fernbank Tornado *	Lamar	F-2	7:31 pm	7:42 pm	7.2	150	0	2
Stafford Tornado *	Pickens	F-1	7:42 pm	7:48 pm	4.5	75	0	0
Saragossa Tornado	Fayette-Walker-Winston-Cullman	F-3	8:15 pm	9:52 pm	72.6	1100	7	45
Boley Springs Tornado	Fayette	F-1	9:10 pm	9:15 pm	4.3	90	0	0
Dora Tornado	Walker	F-1	9:38 pm	9:47 pm	4.3	300	0	ukn
Oneonta Tornado	Blount	F-1	10:22 pm	10:32 pm	10.6	300	0	0
Abernant Tornado	Tuscaloosa-Jefferson	F-2	10:22 pm	10:43 pm	15.2	450	0	3
Chandler Mountain Tornado	St. Clair	F-1	10:41 pm	10:44 pm	3.2	50	0	0
Centre Tornado	Cherokee	F-2	11:23 pm	11:35 pm	10.5	440	1	4

* Note: All details here for the Fernbank and Stafford Tornadoes represent those for their Alabama portions only. Also a third tornado crossed from Mississippi into Alabama (PIckens County) west-southwest of Ethelsville. The tornado dissipated quickly after entering Alabama and caused damage only to a few trees.

In addition to these tornadoes, significant straight line wind damage was also reported in Autauga County.

Additional data can be found here.