@@jeremybelcher1727 I think that the afternoon Cordova tornado actually gave a 17.5 value. But, this 12.6 was just the beginning of what would happen later that day.
I live in Michigan, clearly not an abundance of severe weather outside of blizzards, but this guy is the best meteorologist I've ever seen. He's so informative yet he does it in a simple way that anyone can understand. Ive watched all these videos and he did an amazing job all throughout that day. Clearly the bar is higher for meteorologists down south.
My family lives in Birmingham (I'm from there), but I live in Tampa Bay. I remember getting to the gym that night, and the tornado outbreak was the top news story here in Tampa! I drove home, had James Spann on my laptop and The Weather Channel on my television.
Around 1:44 is what people in the weather business call a "Oh shit" moment. When you think a weather parameter is a 0-10 scale and Mr. Computer is spitting out a high 12, yikes.
I remember this outbreak so well... being a weather geek and holding an interest in severe weather, I remember looking at the Jet Stream data nearly 2 wks out and seeing the jet stream at 80-100 MPH at 34,000 feet. I still get chills just thinking abt that...
April 27th, 2011 was the Finest Hour in the history of Central Alabama television. The efforts by the local TV stations in reporting the tornado outbreak may have saved thousands, if not tens of thousands of lives.
I am of the age where I remember taking shelter in the basement during the 1965 Indiana palm Sunday tornado outbreak. I wish we had some one like James back in 1965 and 1974.
You can tell this weather event was going to be something that neither James Spann or Jason Simpson has ever seen before. Especially when that first storm had a Significant tornado index of 12.6 and both of them thought it maxed out to 10. I remember this day. I live in Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh and was going to school at the time and we were also under the gun for severe weather that day. I believe they had us at a moderate risk for severe weather with the possibility of some tornadoes but we never saw any. I remember watching this on the weather channel in between classes and the devastation these tornadoes caused in Alabama and is just unbelievable.
Larry Smith Most Definitely!!! If all meterologists,were like him,there would be no lives lost. Weathermen like him should be given a 'Weatherman of the Year'Award or a Humanitarian Award
Larry Smith Yeah, we're pretty proud to have him. Even more so, he's just a special man. Every time I see an interview, I'm blown away. I genuinely like him. Jason is pretty awesome too.
Shocking that they had such big storms in the morning and the atmosphere was able to "recover" so quickly to get such intense instability. Usually early confection causes "connective debris" (clouds) that reduces the sun energy. Also usually "eats up" all the energy.
+Zoomer30 It's a double-edged sword. On one end, there's the benefit of what you described. On the other, you have the outflow boundaries that can certainly enhance the intensity of later storms. Clearly happened with this event.
At 3:08, he says, "Let's hold it here for just a little bit--in fact we may be holding it here for 10 hours." Sure enough, this station was all over it for many hours!
I watch this every year on April 27th; I've always been fascinated by weather, especially severe weather. Every time I watch I analyze the parameters and how perfect the atmosphere conducive for violent long-track tornadoes. James Spann and Jason Simpson saved a lot of lives this day. RIP to all the victims and those affected by this generational tornado outbreak.
Hackleburg/Phil Campbell was rated EF5. All the others you listed were rated EF4.... although, the Tuscaloosa/Birmingham was rated upper-end EF4... and there was significant consideration given toward an EF5 rating before the EF4 rating was finalized. The Oakman/Cordova supercell also produced an EF5 back in Mississippi and an EF5 in the Rainsville, Alabama area.
The main difference between the "index" shown in this video... and also that BTI that was mentioned in another comment... and the TOR:CON Index that Dr. Forbes uses.... is the TOR:CON is a *forecast* index that assesses tornado potential over a large area for the whole day, like the Slight, Moderate, and High Risks. The "Significant Tornado Index" and "BTI (Baron Tornado Index", etc.... are mainly radar driven, and indicate the likelihood of a tornado down in each individual storm one by one.
At 5:34 he foretells how the supercell near Philadelphia, MS could affect Alabama later. He nailed it. That storm caused the tornadoes that went through Cordova and then Rainsville.
I live in Iowa, so while I was sad to hear about the devastation this outbreak caused, I'll admit I didn't pay it much attention at the time. But last night I saw a documentary on tv about it, and it peaked my interest to educate myself a little more about those horrifying days, and I stumbled across this video. I just have to commend this meteorology team, because they are doing a phenomenal job and really seem to know their stuff and deliver it without causing panic. Kudos to them!
It just occurred to me that this storm isn't warned at the 9:00 and has a STI number of 12.6. This is significant because tornadoes on March 26 and April 15 had tornado impact numbers of 10.0 but STI numbers at around maybe 2 and were causing some significant damage across the state.
I have been told the biggest reason most north AL schools were closed on 4/27/11 was very simple: No Power. The line of storms that passed through at 4 - 5am caused widespread power outages and some flooding.
A couple hours before this, when the tornado near pine flat, ms hit, I was in class taking my final exam and we had to keep getting into the hallway on and off to take shelter and when it was over they eventually just let us go home. A lot of kids failed that year
Yes Im a student in Bessemer, Al. They let us out of school early that day because of the warnings we got many days in advance. They told us it was going to be a significant weather event with possible long-track tornadoes. The city and county school boards did not take this lightly and planned in advance. If we didn't get the early warnings that we did, we ay have had more casualties. Thank God for meteorologists like James Spann(ABC 33/40) and JP Dice (Fox 6/WBRC)
James is the man, he even said they would go to progamming but they stayed on even though there wasnt any tornados, he thought a warning would be issued, he got it, a tornado warning was issued a few minutes later.
They're a sponsor that helps cover the cost of the station going live wall-to-wall for hours on days like that. TV stations can blow out a MIND BOGGLING amount of money from going live, non-stop on a day like April 27, 2011.... because of all the advertisements that are not shown.....
From what I understand, Atlanta's Fox station refused to pull away from American Idol for more than 30 secs. Of course, the EF 4 Catooga tornado tore through Atlanta's northern metro area. The collapsed 3-story hotel & leveled restaurants killed many people.
I have always thought of Jarrell being one of the strongest tornadoes ever. but after 2011 I will have to agree with you. The Philadelphia tornado was moving very fast if I recall 55-60 mph? It's amazing it dug those trenches while moving at such speed. I live 40 minutes from Joplin and areas I went to rated high end ef5 (east of Lowes) had missing pavement and not a blade of grass in some parts. But to dig 2 feet deep trenches is inconceivable to me.
My family lives in Birmingham (I'm from there), but I live in Tampa Bay. I remember getting to the gym that night, and the tornado outbreak was the top news story here in Tampa! I drove home, had James Spann on my laptop and The Weather Channel on my television.
@TheMightykaz That storm he talks about that's still in Mississippi is actually the storm that produces the Cordova area tornado. The storm that eventually develops immediately south of it produces the Tuscaloosa-Birmingham tornado. However, the storm he is talking about, that produces the Cordova tornado... produces a total of four separate EF4-EF5 tornadoes on its track... Philadelphia, MS area EF5; Cordova, AL EF4; Rainsville, AL EF5; and Ringgold, GA EF4.
You're talking about the Moore, Oklahoma tornado... but you're still wrong. The Moore area was under a Moderate Risk (specifically for strong tornadoes) a full day ahead of time, the area was placed under a Tornado Watch just short of TWO HOURS before the EF5 tornado first touched down.... and the tornado WARNING was issued at 2:40 pm. The tornado survey states that the tornado first touched down at 2:56 pm. That's 16 minutes of lead time on the warning. Might wanna do some research yourself.
I never claimed to be an expert... but strong tornadoes were forecast TWO days or more in advance. Simply put, the schools closing thing happens mainly in Alabama after the Enterprise, AL tornado in March of 2007. I live here. I'm the guy that drove the radar for FOX6 WBRC in Birmingham on 4/27/2011. You can find my Facebook profile easily. I'm not an expert, but have been forecasting severe weather for almost 20 years. Do some EASY research before criticizing someone....
A co-worker's mother is a school administrator - the board had been on the fence as to whether to close the schools at 11, or take a wait-and-see but keep the busses on standby. They did not expect the early AM storms that caused power outages at several facilities. With no power and no ETA as to when it would be back on they had little choice but to close for the day.
Based on what I've been able to gather so far, that Tornado Impact Number is a 1-10 rating, based on radar and the environment... like Baron's BTI. That STI seems to be an environmental parameter... a point readout of the STP that Spann likes to use for forecasting. Notice that the system will also give CAPE and Storm Relative Helicity for storms. This is environmental parameters for the area the storms are located in. The STI seems to be the same thing... as the STP renamed. STP was 12+...
buy the grace of god i survived that horrible day, i lived in walker county or carbonhill in between Winfield n jasper, lost 2 friends who had chicken farms wiped out , just a bad day for all who made it through
I live in Montgomery Alabama and I was scared a f watching the weather that day. Thought I would get hit but I didnt. However, the suburban county of Elmore Co got hit by a ef4 near lake Martin.
TriLLBeatz 334 I'm in Montgomery too. As a child I lived in Dixie Alley. I went through the 1974 outbreak. Watching the tornado go through Tuscaloosa, then Birmingham on WSFA was horrifying. I just knew when the storms got here, we were going to die. It was so scary. We got lucky.
I remember this insane storm in Florida. It brought torrential rains, a lot of lightning, and wind gusts of about 55-65 mph. Several weak tornadoes formed in the area. One threw airplanes around in Lakeland Florida.
I lived in Tampa Bay at that time, but my entire family livee in and around Birmingham, AL. Trying to figure out everyone's safety the next two days really scared me. Fortunately, for my family, everyone was OK.
School systems in Alabama had been doing this for pretty much every tornado risk prior to April 27, 2011. While there had been school closings before, the event that REALLY jump started the practice in Alabama was the March 1, 2007 event at Enterprise High School...
The day before this outbreak, the Weather Channel's "Torcon" index for the area was 10, meaning that for northern Alabama, there was a 100 percent chance of a tornado within 50 miles of any location in that area. It was the first time since that index was created (and as far as I know, the only time up to this writing in March, 2018) that the network ever issued a Torcon index reading of 10 for any area of the United States.
James did his absolute best. And yet people still died. He said later that he understood how the people in the Hackleburg-Phil Campbell EF5 died, as one has little chance in such a monster, but so many of the other deaths were in mobile homes and cars... basically, people that should have known better, and simply didn't care to pay attention. He'd been warning about this for over 48 hours. Some people will simply never care. They use "God's will" as a catch-all for "I can't be bothered to safeguard my own life intelligently". I saw this again in spades when the Joplin EF4 hit. Ignoring sirens, ignoring warnings, ignoring everything... and then saying the deaths were "God's will". Bullshit! God helps those who help themselves.
Attai Brown Highly controversial EF5. Had to be surveyed twice, with only a few very small EF5 features near the core (particularly de-mounted concrete parking stops). 99% of the damage was clearly EF4 level (piles on foundations) and the housing quality was ramshackle. I and many other experts consider it to be a primarily social decision made after the public screamed in outrage. Everybody thinks the tornado that destroyed their house was an EF5 and given the death toll, somebody high up at the NWS decided they didn't want to belabor the issue.
@@orangejoe204 the Joplin tornado twisted a concrete hospital tower 4 inches off it's underpinnings. It damaged the hospital complex so badly it was structurally destroyed and had to be torn down. There's your primary EF5 damage. I do agree that the majority of damage and majority of deaths in Joplin were due primarily to the atrocious building quality; similar to a lot of the deaths from the Western Kentucky tornado. The difference between Joplin and Western Kentucky was that Joplin, again, actually hit a structure that would warrant an EF5 damage rating (St. John's Regional Medical Center).
You're in Harvest, AL, right? The tornado that hit Harvest is the same one that wiped out Phil Campbell and Hackleburg. It was on the ground for something close to TWO HOURS before it got to you. In addition, all the TV stations in Huntsville were on un-interrupted storm coverage that day (the video streams have been uploaded on youtube) clearly showing the hook echo. If I recall this is the same one that took out WAAY's radar / weather cam in Limestone county. So yeah. No.
Not sure what you mean with this comment. Both the Weather Channel and weather underground were all over this outbreak for at least two or three days beforehand. TWC even rolled the dice with a 10/10 TorCon rating for the southeastern US late on the 26th
I live in western North Carolina. Toured Faith Chapel Christian Center, the big concrete dome church, in research for arena construction. I knew of the tornadoes but really didn't know the big one hit the church. Amazing how it survived. These videos I researched later. We really aren't ready for real disaster where we live. Most people's plans are "God would NEVER..." Yes...yes He would. Thank God for Spann and others who saved unknown number of lives.
On paper, I agree with this. But in practice they were not entirely sure when storms would initiate - and remember that storms began to form much earlier to the west in Mississippi. They decided not to take any chances - and that's exactly what you need to do on a day like that. Take no chances.
Yeah I've watched a lot of these videos, and it isn't until about 3:00 PM or so that there was more than one storm in the state that wasn't in the Huntsville TV market. Plus, most storms, despite racing at 60 mph+, were in Mississippi during this time. It only just occurred to me now that I don't recall hearing to much about the storms in Mississippi on this day, mostly in Alabama.
If you go to weather.gov and click sever weather on the left then go to meso analysis you can learn quite a bit about it and many other weather factors. It's a combination of factors that can produce tornadoes. The higher the factors the higher the probability for tornadoes.
+vanhouten64 Not in Walker County (where Jasper is located), but if you simply watch the next few videos, you will quite easily see that it's the same supercell that produced the Cullman EF4 tornado.
Also know that Madison and Limestone counties waited until maybe 9am to make the call to close at 12. Two other co-workers flew out the door at lunch to scoop up their kids.
Okay, noticing this video, I have a question. At 1:40, there's the blue box with the tornado info, including the "Significant Tornado Index." It looks like both meteorologists (I can only remember James Spann in the shot) were shocked at how high that number was. Does anyone know exactly how that index works? Is it similar to Dr. Greg Forbes' "Tornado Condition Index"?
@@WDE1121 Some actually had no power because of the early (3-9am) convective activity. But those that did manage to open, closed early because the late day storms were expected to be (and ended up being) far worse.
