Meteorologist are heroes in my book. An EF-3 tornado hit our home a few years ago and completely destroyed our home. If it wasn’t for our meteorologist we would have died that day. He told us the exact path almost and thankfully we got to our storm cellar about 5 minutes before it hit. Thank you for what you guys do!
What gets my gears turning with rage is that for the fact that people nowadays complain to their local television station because they got interrupted of their favorite show! How about this for a scenario, would you rather watch your favorite show and die from a tornado warning that has been issued or take cover and hide in the basement? I'd choose the second option if I were you. A show is not a part of your life, but your life is more important.
Travis Mull AMEN!! You're life is more important than some T.V. Show. My heart goes out to these weather men/my thoughts and prayers are with them,and everyone who were affected by these violent tornadoes.
Poor Jason. That guy had to have been just sick with worry. Not only for the day ahead, but for his relatives who had been hit extremely hard by those horrid storms that morning. And to top it all off, as horrible as those storms that morning, they were nothing compared to the violent wave that was coming that afternoon and night.
@@benjaminsorenson oh 100%, but they are willing to do be at risk to warn others. these are the kind of people that deserve every penny they earn and more.
I think sometimes we (as the general public) can forget that the people on TV, trying to save our lives, are people with families they are worried about too. The gentleman that flies the helicopter for KFOR in Oklahoma City was in the air showing the 5/20/13 tornado in Moore and he said, "it just went over my house and I had to call my family and tell the to go in the shelter". I think these guys are so much more strong and caring than they are given credit for! It's not for the money either. To stand there on the air because so many people were in serious risk, and watch the couplet go over a family member or to stay in the air, and calm on the air, while watching an EF5 go over your house couldn't be for money. It's genuine caring. It doesn't matter to me if anyone thinks I'm wrong. I say Thank You to these guys for thinking about all of us while they have loved ones they are worried about too!
amen to that,and don't forget all the stormchasers are in the same boat and they risk their lives by putting themselves in harm's way to let people know what is coming and where it is at,you can't say enough for all of them.
I couldn't agree more. Richard Scott at the Tuscaloosa TV station watched his house demolished also/ Several spotters and media in May 2013 did the same. What made me so angry was when one anchor woman (can't remember her name right now) scolded a reporter, who watched the 7 kids pulled out of Plaza Towers, for getting emotional talking about it on air! Also, Tim Samaras was my doctor's best friend. All of these people have friends, loved ones, and lives outside of TV.
Amen to that! :( What gets my gears turning with rage is that for the fact that people nowadays complain to their local television station because they got interrupted of their favorite show! How about this for a scenario, would you rather watch your favorite show and die from a tornado warning that has been issued or take cover and hide in the basement? I'd choose the second option if I were you. A show is not a part of your life, but your life is more important.
Travis Mull That's exactly right! There's been well respected storm chasers, spotters, and law enforcement people that have died trying to get more info to make the warnings as early as possible so people can get safe! My restaurant got hit by 2 tornadoes within 30 seconds of each other and it was a really good thing I am skywarn trained cuz they did NOT break-in and our siren (and 2 others in our part of the county) failed to sound...
I watched the 4/27/11 coverage of the Tuscaloosa tornado via streaming up here in North Carolina, and let me tell you, that footage of the entire day should be preserved for posterity as THE example of how to do live weather coverage. James Spann was simply incredible. 30,000+ people were hammering the livestream and it never skipped a beat the entire day, so kudos to ABC 33/40's technical and Web people as well.
Good job guys. You did not fail, you warned all you could. The rest is fate. Now sharpen your skills for the next couple of years. We will need you and your brothers and sisters.
Words are important to news stations and broadcasters. A "tornado warning" usually just means theres strong rotation in an area. Possible tornadoes, hail, debris. A "particularly dangerous situation" means there's a real problem and you could be seriously hurt as a result, whether it be from the tornado, wind, hail, or debris. A "Tornado Emergency" basically means you could be killed. Your life is considered to be in imminent danger and you must be absolutely prepared and aware. It was a little shocking to me just how many people close to me didn't know this and decided to go out even when both "Particularly dangerous" and "Tornado Emergency" were used in their alert systems during El Reno, and were hurt as a result. I feel like it should be taught more often. Especially for situations like this where people apparently aren't taking a tornado situation seriously until they see live footage of it. Phrasing is important. A news station or broadcaster would not say certain things a certain way without a good reason. Always pay attention. It could save your life.
You should take it seriously at Tornado Warning, to be honest. We're always in the bathroom as soon as we get _that._ I couldn't _imagine_ hearing Tornado EMERGENCY or Particularly Dangerous Situation.
I had just moved to Nashville from LA a couple days before that deadly tornado last year. The thing was, no weather alert was sent out before we went to bed that night. Nobody saw it coming. Around 1am I get this alert on my phone, tornado warning. I thought that one meant conditions are right for a tornado. Didn't know one had touched down until the wind suddenly picked up and I could hear the sucker in the distance. Thankfully we were ok but my neighbors weren't so lucky. They don't teach you this stuff growing up in California..it was a scary experience I never thought I'd be in.
I've MET Jason Simpson! He came to my elementary school before. I forgot how old I was. Maybe 9. 10 years later here I am watching him again. He was pretty cool and funny
TeKnoVKNG23 nah man, it's all about Forbes. those 2 may win in the feels department (and yes i know that's important, I'm no sadist) but as far as meteorological prowess goes Greg Forbes is my number 1. he's incredibly adept, fast thinking, and extremely precise. his torcon probabilities are more go-to for me whilst storm chasing than the nws' own categorical and probabilistic outlooks because he leaves no room for error. Greg Forbes = #1 in the nation
Yes, we had the line of storms early that morning. This line, which spawned many tornadoes and had severe straight line winds, caused major damage to many parts of north and central Alabama. In fact, around 250,000 people lost power due to the morning storms. This major power outage was a huge problem because it made it harder to relay warnings when the afternoon event occurred later that day. Six people were also killed in Alabama as a result of those morning storms. The morning storms alone were a major event in themselves, but they weren't even the main event that day. There was about a six or so hour break between the morning storms and the afternoon storms, which gave the atmosphere plenty of time to recover and destabilize again. I had two EF-4 tornadoes both come within 15 miles of me that day. It was just an unreal, and truly heartbreaking day. One that will be forever etched in the history of Alabama.
The first wave was predicted late the day before. It was more violent than indicated. Problem was that with ppl out of power, they couldn't effectively receive the warnings for the 2p+ event but that one was predicted days.in advance.
@Judy G. youre a freaking idiot!! Wait until you see one with your naked eye coming right at you with the non stop growl like a demon and a jet engine..tell me it's fake then. You literally have no idea.
Judy, ask yourself; why would they fake something like that? Also, have you see the damage that storm caused? Nothing fake about a storm that destroyed a town and turned so many lived upside down!
I'm 18 now living in PA, but up until age 16, I lived in Alabama from 1997 - 2013 or so, so I was used to tornados every summer or so, maybe in the spring, and I had school like any normal person. But I'd noticed that animals were acting pretty weird and I had a pretty nasty headache from the barometric pressure building up. Having had it happen before, I was pretty scared. Note that during the outbreak, I was living just off of Main Street in Millbrook, and suffice to say, I didn't really get any sleep that night because I kept hearing tornado sirens all the night. I don't have a fear of Tornados, but everytime I hear the siren, even if it's something as simple as a test, I get scared and freeze.
I get nervous everytime storms come through now. That Cullman tornado came through my hometown Arab and leveled a lot of homes. My fiancé looks at me like I'm crazy when I start getting nervous on days we are supposed to have severe weather. I notice the birds behavior and I especially panic when the sun is out. It was bright on April 27th until the tornadoes came.
kirara2516 yeah that's definitely an urgent warning sign when that happens. A tornado can have massive pressure drops. If you are caught in a storm and that happens, take shelter immediately.
i live in millbrook now and remember that day vividly! i was 11 and actually peed myself from fear...tmi, i know, but i was genuinely afraid of that night being the night we got hit
Six years now. Still hard to watch from nearly 500 miles away. I had the live stream up for several hours that day, and witnessed both the Cullman and Tuscaloosa tornadoes. At the time I was homeschooling my son, and made the mistake of showing him the Cullman storm as it was happening. Thankfully he doesn't remember that. I'll never forget it.
It’s July 2019, I’m all the way in far west Texas and I’m bawling watching this. Once the weather guy geared up - I lost it!! Cried through the entire thing.
Most people in Alabama DIDN'T see what was going on including me. I lost power at 4:20 that morning and didn't get it back for a while as did tens of thousands of thousands of Alabama's across the state. I had no idea how bad it had been until I drove into Phil under instructions from my boss. I was knocked for a loop. I didn't know whether to cry or throw up. I had plenty of tears and my mission was unsuccessful. What set this apart from from most tornado events was the incredibly huge area under attack. In most out breaks, you can call for help in nearby cities and counties...but who do you call when most of the state is suffering extreme destruction and loss of life? No one.
@@kenperk9854 It almost seemed like a coordinate attack, the morning storms taking out communications and power. It reminds me of the Valdivia earthquake. Not many people know that the day before 3 quakes striked the same area, an 8.1, a 7.1 and a 7.8. Anytime an 8+ earthquake happens, that's already the worst case scenario, but one day later the 9.5 hit. The land sunk up to 4 meters, then the tsunami came and washed away anything that had survived. Those events that happen once evey 30,50 or 100 years feel like nature is actively trying to kill you.
April 27th, 2011 was the Finest Hour in the history of Central Alabama television. The reporting of the area's TV stations may have saved thousands, if not tens of thousands, of lives.
@@altfactor I only have one question. How did you get notified of a reply, 4 YEARS later?? Were you just rewatching the video, and saw your old comment and the reply?
James you saved my parents' life!!!! It was your alertness snd physical emotions on TV that made my mom stop and listen. She called my dad inside and no sooner the sky turned black. They got in the bathtub and minutes later the tornado hit. They would not have been ready and thus survived, if it wasn't for James Spann and of course the angelic help from God.Thank you❤❤❤❤❤
Kudos to Jason for keeping his composure while doing his job. No way that could be an easy thing to do in that situation. Bless meteorologists for what they do to save lives, especially when they don't get much appreciation for it.
Everybody on the air and behind the scenes that day was and is a hero. Consummate professionals who understood just how critical their jobs were that day and performed impeccably, all of you. I would give anything to have a weather team in my area even HALF the caliber of yours. 33/40 is world famous now, and for good reason.
Lest we forget. We're in peak season, and all those things we experienced this day are constantly on my mind. I was just a little teenage girl, just barely 17, and now I'm just barely 25 and I teach little ones who are so dear to me and I feel so much panic that they don't see over their safety whenever this season rolls around. Thank you to our meteorologists who must feel a similar sense of panic and desire to protect. You are so appreciated.
I'll never forget that day! I live in Cullman. I was at work downtown when the tornado came thru. The sound is something you cant get out of your head!
Coming from someone who has been in situations where a lot of people have counted on me in times of need, I can answer their question "How do you stay strong in a situation like that?" and my answer is you: look to the people around you. You stay strong for them if they are struggling and they will take example and stay strong for you. Your job isn't over until the dust settles. That's when you can step back and take a look at what damage has been done, what is and isn't salvageable and evaluate what you need to do to get going again. In this case you put your job of informing whoever might be watching or listening at the time first. Keep going and never stop. It's unfortunate if your family is in the path but hopefully, because of you, they already know what to do if things start turning for the worst. Take that information and store it for later. There's no use in worrying about it when there's thousands of other people still in imminent danger.
Wow, major kudos to Jason Simpson for being able to hold it together despite his own family's dire situation. I had no idea just how tough it had been for him. Credit to all three meteorologists for saving hundreds, perhaps THOUSANDS of lives that day. I was in an area that amazingly WAS NOT affected by the tornado outbreak. My thoughts and prayers still go out to those who are still struggling from what happened last year.
was in Helena that day. The sky was purple and black. Went to Tuscaloosa to rescue my bud. Looked like a bomb was dropped on Alberta city. I miss my home
Tornados have always been one of my biggest fears. I used to get nightmares as a kid of my family driving in a car and everywhere you looked on the horizon there was a tornado. Literally surrounded. I'd wake up right before the got too close, but I remember the terror I would feel when I finally woke up and the dream ended.
I had those too! More that they were behind and ahead of us, along the sides of the road (so diagonal from the car). I also had a lot of dreams where the tornado is going past our house when it's sunny, and say someone forgot to close the garage door, and it goes right in front of the door, almost taunting, I'm going to get you....they're awful.
Not going to lie this was very well illustrated and legit made me feel sad and made me cry for split second about the way the said how badly this impacted there lives
As a future resident of Cordova, I commend the work James Spann, Jason Simpson, and all of the abc33/40 team for the work they did on this day. You guys prevented a lot more fatalities. You guys are heroes.
Bless your hearts -- and I mean that -- for what you had to deal with that day. I'm from Texas, but remember tuning in via internet to your broadcast that afternoon, and was just horrified and sickened and saddened by all that was going on. Y'all held it together and were so professional through it all, and I'm sure if I had been in one of those areas where the tornadoes hit, I would have been so grateful for your presence walking everyone through it.
I live in Morris and I remember walking out under my back deck as it was coming through north Birmingham and Fultondale and being able to hear the roar of it, even that far away. Also had debris falling from the sky.
Watching this bought me to memories of my wife. She was an ER RN, and everytime someone younger died, I heard her say things similar to what these weathermen said. I understand what these guys went through, and I say, you did a good job, all that you could do.God bless you all
This and the other two videos are great. I almost skipped class to watch this whole event. I first caught the livestream as the Cullman tornado formed and watched through Tuscaloosa tornado. I live in Texas and will never forget 4/27. You guys and gals did an amazing job on and off air.
I appreciate these guys more than they will ever know. I had a lady from Missouri tell me we made too much of a big deal about the weather. Well lady, i hope u take this seriously and it sinks in. Thank you guys for all you do to keep us safe!!!!!
You all are heroes. You can’t help limitations of people’s safety shelters, people who may ignore warnings, and sometimes... it’s just the right environment for the worst-case scenario. But you plowed through, kept people updated, and did your duty. Thank you for all you did, you saved thousands of lives.
I have watched the news coverage of this tornado from this channel. I stumbled across it by accident while watching Oklahoma tornadoes. This tornado was, I don't know how to say it. It was like a strong Oklahoma tornado. The kind that even storm chasers don't wanna see. I was shocked that Alabama had a tornado like that. The coverage was awesome. The professionalism was awesome. You guys did an awesome job reporting this thing. There's only so much you guys can do with a deathly monster like that. If I ever live in Alabama I'm watching you guys.
Marlyn Diekmann alabama tornados are common, but some are just terrible and horrifying. They did an amazing job covering this. I live in alabama. A couple years ago, we had a tornado, and it was a small but damaging storm. My yard was destroyed. We had some damage to our roof. The house two or three houses down was completely destroyed. This is why everyone should pay attention to warnings.
It’s been a decade. God, the anguish that the younger meteorologist is going through. It’s clear he has a level of PTSD. PTSD is caused by a perfect storm of a life threatening or horrific experience/harm/risk to self &/or others, meeting a crushing sense of helplessness. To have your game face on, and then receive a call that your own community was being wiped out in that moment whilst you’re in a comparatively cushy environment? I think that was the most devastating to him. It broke the fourth wall, so to speak, and suddenly work collided with everyone he knows and loves. I hope that ten years on he continues to heal. Survivors guilt is a hell of a beast. And I wish the same for every person to be personally devastated by these storms. They saved countless lives as a team and I hope that may bring them some collective measure of comfort.
I actually got emotional looking at the damage even though its 12 years later, the damage in Cullman And Hackleburg really made me emotional. also the music was the main thing that made me emotional, that music and the damage is really sad. 😢
You guys are awesome and do a great job. I hate to think what would happen without all the work you do for us. To paraphrase, "Well done, good and faithful meteorologists...!"
They all did fantastic that day. They did what they could and helped many. Jason Simpson and James Spann conveyed very well on TV that day what was happening. The fact that they're trying to learn how to do even better is amazing. I've seen so many James Spann interviews where he talks about the psychology behind this and how they can use that to better warn, as well as the other issues like with false flag tornado warnings, and tornado siren mentality. I hope they don't beat themselves up over this. They're good people doing their best to help others.
I'm positive that each and everyone who were affected by these violent tornadoes still have horrible nightmares about that day. I'm so sorry that they had to experience a once in a lifetime event as this. My continued thoughts and prayers go out to these people even though it has been 6 years now since that day.
I was 8 years old turning 9 in august I’ll never forget this day power was out for so long everybody was lost I still have chills just thinking about it to this this day
8 year anniversary coming soon and I still freak out. I lived in holly pond at the time. I woke up because there was no power and my house was shaking. I ran to my parents and grabbed my little brother and got behind the couch with a mattress. When it was safe to come out, there was a tree in my bedroom. We went to town to check on other family and when we got to first baptist church another one hit the ground and I barely had enough time to get inside. I still freak out and cry over this day. Now, I live in West Point. When there is a tornado in moulton or hartselle, even if it’s just a watch, I take my kids to the shelter. Because you never know. Even though I almost died that day, it saves my life now. Cause I over react and take cover a county away.
To me, that's what you should do. If there's even a watch, you don't know when it's gonna become a warning. The meteorologists may not see it, may not see it fast enough if it hits your house first. I had a friend who wanted to go play frisbee outside during a tornado warning, and he was confused/amused that no one would go out and play with him. Meanwhile, I'm with another friend and crying just from fear...
I remember watching all this on internet since I'm in Florida. Sadness and concern that day. Prayers continue to go out to those still suffering from this one year later.
My birthday is on the 28th of April and I'd just gotten my first car on the 26th and remember being scared hail would beat it. Thankfully none of these storms came into the bottom half of the state but I remember vividly watching all of this live on TV as it was happening. I still like to come back every now and again and watch footage of it and I'm always impressed with how the weather stations handled this--I don't remember any of them freezing up or not saying what they needed to.
The deaths, some of them are not preventable... some people will ignore them, no matter what. Some tornadoes are just so strong that doing everything right is not enough.
No one: Not a single soul: RU-vid: how the weather team handled the 2011 tornado outbreak. For real tho, this was honestly horrible and I’m hoping anyone who went through this is doing ok now.
I was 10, watching from north Autauga County. I wasn't really old enough to fully understand the severity of what was happening, but I remember the most chilling thing that was said during that whole broadcast was when the tornado was coming for Tuscaloosa and Spann said this would "go down in state history, and all you can do is pray for those people."
It's a day that I'll never forget for the rest of my life! I'm thankful that all of my family, and myself, lived through it! My hometown of Hackleburg may have been destroyed, but my family all survived! ♥️🙏
i never knew that there was such devastation from the storms in the morning as well. great video and great job by the meteorologists doing the best they can warning people while seeing an EF-4 tearing through a heavily populated area at the same time. I honestly believe that if they havent shown the live video of the tornadoes, there would be a lot more deaths. Take this stuff seriously people and my heart still goes out to those still suffering from the tragic events from april 26-28 2011
I remembered this day, I struggle to this day of dealing with storms. That day was terrifying for me, all I kept thinking of was my mom and the tornado.
