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re: Tenth Anniversary of the 2011 Super Tornado Outbreak
Posted on 4/27/21 at 10:34 am to LegendInMyMind
Posted on 4/27/21 at 10:34 am to LegendInMyMind
One part of the state of Alabama that doesn't get talked about enough that was impacted just as much, or maybe worse, as any other part of the state is Northeast Alabama. True, it isn't as populated as other areas that were hit that day, but it saw four deadly tornadoes within less than 20 miles of each other. That's four distinct tornado paths that all killed people. I'm doing some reading now on the EF5 in Rainsville, AL.
To put that day in perspective: I've seen maps, granted not official, that completely leave that EF5 off. I don't think it is intentional, of course, but it does illustrate the scope of the outbreak. While looking back, some people legitimately forget an EF5 tornado. That is just crazy to me.
To put that day in perspective: I've seen maps, granted not official, that completely leave that EF5 off. I don't think it is intentional, of course, but it does illustrate the scope of the outbreak. While looking back, some people legitimately forget an EF5 tornado. That is just crazy to me.
2
Posted on 4/27/21 at 10:36 am to Roll Tide Ravens
A satellite image after the Tuscaloosa tornado.
Picture is self explanatory
Picture is self explanatory
Posted on 4/27/21 at 10:38 am to East Coast Band
Alabama is the new Kansas.
Posted on 4/27/21 at 10:48 am to Adajax
quote:
Alabama is the new Kansas.
Not necessarily. Alabama has always gotten more than its fair share of tornadoes. Kansas and the rest of "Tornada Alley" have benefited the past couple years from a favorable weather pattern. That, unfortunately, is the same weather pattern that produced a record-breaking hurricane season last year.
This post was edited on 4/27/21 at 10:53 am
Posted on 4/27/21 at 10:50 am to Adajax
quote:
Alabama is the new Kansas.
To be honest, Alabama has always had violent tornado outbreaks, dating back into the early 1900s when record of tornadoes started being kept. For some reason, the southeast tornado alley (Dixie Alley) just didn’t get talked about as much until more recently.
Posted on 4/27/21 at 10:52 am to East Coast Band
quote:
A satellite image after the Tuscaloosa tornado.
Picture is self explanatory
I found a site you may like that I haven't been able to fully check out because I'm mostly using mobile these days, and it doesn't play well with it. Lots of satellite products from NASA focusing on April 27.
NASA SPoRT Analysis
This post was edited on 4/27/21 at 11:05 am
Posted on 4/27/21 at 10:59 am to LegendInMyMind
Alabama is the epicenter for deadly tornados in the US, not Oklahoma or Kansas, though admittedly they're pretty close behind.
Since 1950, there have been 8 F-5/ EF-5 tornados in the state. Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas have experienced 6 such cyclones each during that time frame.
Since 1950, there have been 8 F-5/ EF-5 tornados in the state. Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas have experienced 6 such cyclones each during that time frame.
Posted on 4/27/21 at 10:59 am to Roll Tide Ravens
quote:
For some reason, the southeast tornado alley (Dixie Alley) just didn’t get talked about as much until more recently.
Even as late as 20 years ago storm chasers wouldn't chase down here. Take their "extreme" nature, add advancement in video technology (both mobile and fixed sky cam types), and you have more documentation now than ever before. We also have much better radar for tracking and tornado confirmation, better understanding of tracks, more manpower for surveys, and more people than ever before being weather aware. Now days, an EF0 can't touch down anywhere without someone seeing and/or recording it. A stretch of wooded property in the middle of a national forest with no homes for miles that sees a tornado now will be detected. Those type tornadoes likely would have never gone into the official records just 25 years ago.
Posted on 4/27/21 at 11:01 am to East Coast Band
Just incredible path of destruction.
The UA campus and Bryant-Denny aren't that far away from the tornado's path. What is the large X-shaped complex just to the south of the path?
The UA campus and Bryant-Denny aren't that far away from the tornado's path. What is the large X-shaped complex just to the south of the path?
This post was edited on 4/27/21 at 11:06 am
Posted on 4/27/21 at 11:14 am to tarzana
quote:
What is the large X-shaped complex just to the south of the path?
I think that is the big mall in Tuscaloosa.
ETA: also scary how close it came to the hospital there.
This post was edited on 4/27/21 at 11:15 am
Posted on 4/27/21 at 11:17 am to tarzana
quote:
Alabama is the epicenter for deadly tornados in the US, not Oklahoma or Kansas, though admittedly they're pretty close behind.
We had this discussion in a thread a few weeks ago. Population density plays a huge roll in the deadly tornado statistics.
The best way I have to describe it is to take the Hackleburg/Phil Campbell tornado/supercell. It was on the ground (for the majority of the time) for more 100 miles, was nearly a mile wide at times, and had a duration of 2 hours and 35 minutes. Take that 100+ mile by 3/4 mile path and pick a spot in Western Oklahoma, Texas, or Kansas. Then, pick a spot in Alabama to place the same path. Look at the number towns and cities that would be in the two paths. In Alabama, you just have more people in the way of a long-track violent tornado. Oklahoma's population is much more concentrated than Alabama. Here, you can drive 130 miles and come across many small to medium towns and a few mid to large cities. Out there, not so much.
Posted on 4/27/21 at 11:25 am to TU Rob
quote:
also scary how close it came to the hospital
Joplin, MO wasn't so lucky about three weeks later. The huge tornado that destroyed one-third of that city destroyed a hospital, resulting in many deaths and serious injuries.
Posted on 4/27/21 at 11:25 am to TU Rob
quote:
also scary how close it came to the hospital there.
My grandmother was in Decatur Hospital when the Hackleburg/Phil Campbell tornado passed about 3 miles to their Northwest. Its power was knocked out, and they were running on emergency generator power only. Well, that night she started saying she was dying and asking for our preacher. My aunt who was staying with her at night started panicking and calling everyone. There was so much damage and phone service was so spotty that it took her a while to get a deacon from their church to come. He and his wife came, our preacher ended up getting the message and coming, another preacher we knew who was already there for people of his church who had been taken there due to injuries came in, as well as the pastor who worked with the hospital. Evidently, through their combined efforts, they pulled her through. My aunt and Mom still believe my grandmother was just being dramatic.
This post was edited on 4/27/21 at 11:26 am
Posted on 4/27/21 at 11:30 am to LegendInMyMind
just my hypothesis on why "Dixie Alley" is just now getting the recognition it deserves as perhaps THE tornado hotspot in this country
as pointed out... technology has gotten a lot better
but the main thing before technology helped is... you can hardly see tornadoes in the south
chasers call it "the jungle" for a reason and really never liked chasing here for that reason... too many trees and such obscure viewing... unlike what you get in the Plains
also... unlike the Plains... meteorologists like to remind us that tornadoes in this area are typically rain-wrapped... another thing to obscure visual identification of a tornado
tornadoes in the south don't typically stand out like the ones on 4/27/11
now that the technology has gotten better... we are understanding that was before was just a "severe thunderstorm" is now a tornadic storm with killer potential
I would venture to say it's probably been this way for a long time and just within the last decade or 2 are we really starting to understand the threat we're under from tornadoes in the spring before we get to the threat of hurricanes in the summer
as pointed out... technology has gotten a lot better
but the main thing before technology helped is... you can hardly see tornadoes in the south
chasers call it "the jungle" for a reason and really never liked chasing here for that reason... too many trees and such obscure viewing... unlike what you get in the Plains
also... unlike the Plains... meteorologists like to remind us that tornadoes in this area are typically rain-wrapped... another thing to obscure visual identification of a tornado
tornadoes in the south don't typically stand out like the ones on 4/27/11
now that the technology has gotten better... we are understanding that was before was just a "severe thunderstorm" is now a tornadic storm with killer potential
I would venture to say it's probably been this way for a long time and just within the last decade or 2 are we really starting to understand the threat we're under from tornadoes in the spring before we get to the threat of hurricanes in the summer
Posted on 4/27/21 at 11:42 am to Roll Tide Ravens
quote:
1974 Super Outbreak.
I was knee high to a grasshopper at 11 years old growing up in Decatur. Our neighbor was a NWS employee who worked in Huntsville. He told us the day before to watch out. We spent a goodly amount of time in the house hallway surrounded by pillows and mattresses. Lived near the river and that's when I saw my first tornado live. It's the one which wiped out Tanner. Had a little friend at church whose family lived in Tanner. House was wiped of the map, looked like a freshly poured slab. The house debris and belongings were about 300 yards across a field in a treeline. They were spared due to the neighbors storm cellar. Their house was right on 31 near the first light you come to from the south.
Posted on 4/27/21 at 11:47 am to tarzana
quote:
What is the large X-shaped complex just to the south of the path?
University Mall. If you go to my post with all of the video links in the thread, and scroll down to the ones for the Tuscaloosa-Birmingham tornado you can see a video I linked from someone who was in the parking lot of that mall as the tornado came through.
Posted on 4/27/21 at 11:52 am to rt3
quote:
tornadoes in the south don't typically stand out like the ones on 4/27/11
Very true. During the Cullman tornado, Spann remarked at how the storms that day were LP storms (light precipitation) like we see in the Plains where the tornadic part of the storm is separated from the heavy rain/hail part of the storm.
Posted on 4/27/21 at 1:03 pm to LegendInMyMind
I lived in NE AL at the time and still do just another location. I remember the morning I got up a little early and saw we had a Tornado Warning for us. I thought it was going to miss us so I started getting ready to go to work a little early. The warning got cancelled so I was getting ready to leave then I heard this weird high pitch sound I’ve never heard before outside. I stuck my head outside to see and I lived on a long driveway that was in the woods and I just saw the trees falling over. I quickly ran to the hall way and just started praying. There was a window raised somewhere near me and I could hear the limbs and probably trees snapping. It seemed like it lasted for a while but realistically it wasn’t that long. After it was gone I went outside and I probably have 30-40 trees down most across my driveway.
Not much later I got a call from a paramedic friend of mine asking if I was ok they were on a call of someone trapped in a home near me. I didn’t hit me that a neighbor of mine was the one trapped. I saw the ambulance pull up so I ran to see if I could help but it was to late I can’t remember what fell on her while she was trying to take cover and killed her. It’s one that no one talks about because it wasn’t one of the big ones but it still hits home to me. Later that day an EF4 came through close to the same track and killed 2 more elderly people about a mile from my home. Crazy day still brings chills talking about it and I was minimally affected compared to many others.
Not much later I got a call from a paramedic friend of mine asking if I was ok they were on a call of someone trapped in a home near me. I didn’t hit me that a neighbor of mine was the one trapped. I saw the ambulance pull up so I ran to see if I could help but it was to late I can’t remember what fell on her while she was trying to take cover and killed her. It’s one that no one talks about because it wasn’t one of the big ones but it still hits home to me. Later that day an EF4 came through close to the same track and killed 2 more elderly people about a mile from my home. Crazy day still brings chills talking about it and I was minimally affected compared to many others.
Posted on 4/27/21 at 2:04 pm to NEALCD
It’s 2pm CDT, and in just a few minutes we will be at the moment where 10 years ago a tornado warning was issued for Walker and Winston Counties in Alabama. This storm would ultimately produce the Cullman EF-4 tornado. This was the beginning of the hellish afternoon and evening across Alabama that didn’t end until around 11pm that night.
We are also nearing the moment in which the EF-5 that hit Philadelphia, MS touched down.
We are also nearing the moment in which the EF-5 that hit Philadelphia, MS touched down.
This post was edited on 4/27/21 at 2:06 pm
Posted on 4/27/21 at 2:08 pm to Roll Tide Ravens
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