re: Tenth Anniversary of the 2011 Super Tornado Outbreak

Ten days prior to the 27th, Alabama had their A-Day game. Same A-Day they unveiled Coach Saban’s statue in front of BDS. Me and Dad drove down and stopped at the Walmart in Northport to pick up groceries to take to my sisters house. We got stuck inside cause there was a tornado near Hillcrest. So we put the stuff up and decided to hit the grocery store on Skyland later on. There was some rotation on Hwy 69 going towards Moundville.

10 days later, I sat in my living room with my laptop, watching ABC33/40 live stream with the tv on the Weather Channel. Thankfully my sister and brother-in-law were home. I turned on Paul Finebaum’s live stream when he was still in Vestavia I think and he was getting nervous on air. Of course the next day his show was dedicated to it and the NFL Draft was that night.

James Spann and Jason Simpson did an amazing job that day. It landed Jason the chief meteorologist job at WHNT. They won Emmy awards for their broadcast. Spann became a household name across the country.

Crazy to think that a month later, Joplin got hit by a big one.