The warnings are in effect until 6 p.m. 3:55 p.m.: Tornado warning in northwest Georgia from same rotating storm that tracked across Alabama. Land The weather service said that radar showed a debris ball in southern Coosa County which matched ground observation of a wide area of snapped pine trees on either side of McKissick Road between the communities of Speed and Equality. The storms had cut power to over 35,000 customers in Alabama. Theres also a cap in place a few thousand feet up a layer of warm, dry desert air that will prevent air near the ground from rising most of the day. Similar devastation to homes and businesses was noted along both sides of CR 45 near 1st St E. and locations to the northeastward. The tornado then crossed the northern section of Lake Martin, damaging additional lakefront homes. Tornado Safety Rules, Awareness Weeks At least 7 now dead in Autauga County after storms, tornado strike Alabama, Did historic Selmas homes, monuments withstand possible tornado? Several injuries were noted in this area. Radar suggested the storm crossed Interstate 65 around 1:30 p.m. and was between Meadowbrook and Chelsea at 1:40 p.m. A tornado emergency is issued in the most urgent particularly dangerous situations which the Weather Service deems life-threatening., TORNADO EMERGENCY! At least one death occurred here. As it crossed Hurricane Creek, it tore apart a large metal railroad trestle, and a 34-tonne (74,957lb) metal truss support structure was thrown 100ft (30m) up on a nearby hill. Special Weather Statements On April 27, 2011, a devastating tornado tore through Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The tornado initially touched down in Marion County, Alabama about 5 miles (8.0 km) west-southwest of Hamilton around 3:05 pm CDT and tracked to the northeast, causing significant tree and roof damage. Path of the F4 tornado that ravaged Tuscaloosa and the Birmingham, Alabama areas on April 27, 2011. Tell your friends, neighbors, and relatives about the severe weather threat, and what they need to do to get ready. The track was about 12 miles long, and the tornado caused more than 20 deaths. A small club house that was anchored to a foundation, but with apparently no interior walls, was completely destroyed and swept from its foundation. The suburbs of Concord, Pleasant Grove, and McDonald Chapel, along with residential areas in northern Birmingham itself, were devastated. The start point is based on aerial survey, while the end location was determined by a ground crew. University of Alabama Tuscaloosa 301 ROSE ADMIN BLDG TUSCALOOSA AL US 35487-0001 (205)348-5152: Sponsor Congressional District: 07: Primary Place of Performance: University of Alabama Tuscaloosa 801 University Blvd. [1] As a shortwave trough tracked across portions of the Mid-South and southeastern United States, moderate instability and strong wind shear ahead of a trailing cold front was expected to promote the development of supercell thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes, large hail, and damaging winds. [12] The tornado then ripped through the neighborhoods of Rosedale and Forest Lake, leveling and sweeping away numerous poorly-anchored homes. On March 1932, 33 tornadoes ripped through the southeastern United States and killed 359 people in six states over the course of two days. No Excuses! tweeted Dan Satterfield, a meteorologist who spent years in Birmingham covering severe weather outbreaks. Twenty-four tornadoes were confirmed on December 16, 2000. #HUNwx pic.twitter.com/wyBjSkmRCp. Tornado Warnings It had top winds of 150 mph in several spots along its long path. Thursday morning and afternoon, a warm front was lifting north through Mississippi and Alabama, ushering in an unstable and dangerous air mass. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. Early reports indicated 65 people were killed, with over 1,000 injured. A well-anchored clubhouse on the property was mostly swept away and its remains were scattered into a pond, even though the structure had lacked interior walls. They call this tornado alley, you know? Brown said. Local Climatology To get the best experience possible, please download a compatible browser. pic.twitter.com/kcS53FPPkX. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. It was taken from the University Mall parking lot. The tornado entered the southern portion of Tuscaloosa as a low-end EF4 and crossed 35th Street, completely destroying a cell phone tower and several warehouses in an industrial area. Posted Wed, Mar 30, 2022 at 9:06 pm CT | Updated Wed, Mar 30, 2022 at 10:06 pm CT. Regional Weather Roundup Tuscaloosa-area storm shelters, including those on the University of Alabama campus, will open when a tornado watch is issued, officials said. Local Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Data, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It passed within a half mile of the Tuscaloosa Police Department Headquarters, forcing the evacuation of the dispatch personnel from the third floor offices until the storm passed. 5:54 a.m. - An EF-2 tornado cut a swath of damages for almost eight miles in the Cahaba Heights area near U.S. 280 in Jefferson County, wrecking trees, homes and businesses, crossing Interstate 459 near Liberty Park. The weather service in Birmingham released some preliminary results early Friday afternoon. On April 27, 2011, one of the most devastating tornado outbreaks in the history of Alabama left an unprecedented path of destruction through the City of Tuscaloosa. One of the cities hit hardest was Tuscaloosa, Ala. A nearly mile wide tornado cut a path though the town, killing 53 people, and injuring 1200 more. The Weather Service had already received reports of 24 twisters, 59 instances of damaging winds, and 49 reports of large hail. [17] A four-sided brick home in the area also had its roof torn off, but none of its exterior walls collapsed. The Autauga tornado was a dreaded long-track tornado, with a path that was 82 miles long. Winter Weather, Special Programs The weather service said the tornado continued northeast into Chambers County, causing EF-0 to EF-1 damage. Average tornado warning lead time is around 10 minutes at best, meaning its vital to have a plan in place before you need it. "Just as cities and towns from all over Alabama came together to support Tuscaloosa in the aftermath of the devastating April 27, 2011 tornado, the City of Tuscaloosa will support the City of Selma on their road to recovery," Mayor Walt Maddox said when the drive was . It's hard to forget the gut-wrenching moments of 27 April 2011 when a massive EF4 tornado tore across the city of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Damage at the beginning of the path ranged from EF1 to EF2. About Radar These are not individual tornadoes but reports of tornadoes. Thats an ominous atmospheric signal of a violent weather day. It then went on to impact parts of Birmingham at high-end EF4 intensity before dissipating. Please select one of the following: After the tornado moved through the McDonald Chapel area, it moved into the area of Smithfield Estates, with significant home damage along Cherry Avenue between Daniel Payne Drive and Veterans Memorial Drive. It crossed the highway and rolled a manufactured home along Autauga County Road 40. If you cant do that in just three or four minutes, relocate to somewhere you can high-risk days are when you want to be close to a shelter at all times. The tornadoes left behind pockets of severe damage along with reports of injuries and fatalities. Daily Rainfall Plots National Weather Service meteorologists have surveyed the massive damage associated with this long track violent tornado, by ground and air. Outreach Materials 0:38 Nearly a decade has passed since the deadliest tornado in Tuscaloosa's history carved a 5.9-mile path of destruction through the city, though for most people who lived through that storm. The tornado crossed University Blvd in the Alberta City community. While uncertainty exists as to how intense individual storms will become and what specific areas will be hit, an extremely serious outbreak of severe weather is anticipated. List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks, Bridge Creek, Moore, & Oklahoma City (Metro), OK, "Day 4-8 Severe Weather Outlook Issued on Apr 23, 2011", "Day 4-8 Severe Weather Outlook Issued on Apr 24, 2011", "Apr 25, 2011 0730 UTC Day 3 Severe Thunderstorm Outlook", "Apr 27, 2011 1200 UTC Day 1 Convective Outlook", "Apr 27, 2011 1300 UTC Day 1 Convective Outlook", "Particularly Dangerous Situation (PDS) Tornado Watch 235", "Storms, Tornadoes Leave Dozens Dead in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and Tennessee", "Tuscaloosa-Birmingham EF-4 Tornado April 27, 2011", "Tuscaloosa-Birmingham Tornado - April 27, 2011", "Discriminating EF4 and EF5 Tornado Damage", "Damage Survey of the Tuscaloosa-Birmingham Tornado on April 27, 2011", "THE AFTERMATH: Staff accounts of the tornado", "Obama In Tuscaloosa: 'I've Never Seen Devastation Like This', "Six UA students included in list of tornado deaths", Interview with Storm Chaser of April 27 Tuscaloosa Tornado, Full video of this tornado taken by the above storm chaser from Tuscaloosa University Mall parking lot, Full episode of Discovery Channel's Storm Chasers about the Tuscaloosa Tornado, "Normalized Damage from Major Tornadoes in the United States: 18901999", 10.1175/1520-0434(2001)016<0168:NDFMTI>2.0.CO;2, List of tornadoes in the 2011 Super Outbreak, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2011_TuscaloosaBirmingham_tornado&oldid=1141443200, 2011 natural disasters in the United States, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, April 27, 2011, 6:14p.m. CDT (UTC05:00), 64 fatalities (+8 indirect), 1,500+ injuries, This page was last edited on 25 February 2023, at 02:47. The tornado was radar-indicated with no confirmation as of yet. I dont know how.. After the tornado moved through the McDonald Chapel area, it moved into the area of Smithfield Estates, with significant home damage along Cherry Avenue between Daniel Payne Drive and Veterans Memorial Drive. Zoom in on the map above and click or tap the icons to get more information about each reported tornado. As of 615 pm , there are currently no active warnings in effect in central Alabama. A tornado killed at least five people in Calhoun County, Ala., located between Birmingham and the Georgia border. Image of the Day A nearby two story apartment building was reduced to rubble sitting on the foundation. [10][13][14], The tornado then grew from 0.5 miles (0.80km) to 1 mile (1.6km) wide and ripped through the suburb of Holt, leveling and sweeping away homes while still at low-end EF4 strength. [19] The structures that were swept away by this tornado were either improperly anchored, lacked interior walls, or were surrounded by contextual damage not consistent with winds exceeding 200mph (320km/h), and as a result an EF5 rating could not be applied. *Note: This story was updated to reflect the adjusted path of the Autauga tornado, which upon further analysis from the National Weather Service had a path length of 82.31 miles. The trail of damage stretched 80.3 miles (129.2 kilometers) long and as much as 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) wide. Storm chaser footage provided confirmation of the large, dangerous tornado. The warning is in effect until 5:30 p.m. and the storm is racing northeast at 60 mph and headed in the direction of the town of Brent. Satellite view of the long-track, tornadic supercell marching across Central Alabama. n EF-4 tornado with multiple vortices ripped a 33-mile path of destruction through Fyffe, Rainsville and Sylvania, Buy newspaper front pages, posters and more. 1:05 p.m.: Tornado warning for south side of Birmingham. The National Weather Service has spent the past few days tracing the path of Alabama's deadliest tornado since 2019. The Storm Prediction Center even took an unusual step in mentioning potentially violent, long-track tornadoes, the term violent corresponding to twisters of EF4 to EF5 strength, the most extreme levels on the scale. Overview of the Tuscaloosa-Birmingham EF4 Tornado - April 27, 2011 Published by Jen Narramore-Nelson Tucker-Nick Wilkes on July 18, 2021 I've never seen devastation like this. It continued on, with wind speeds reaching 210 mph, leaving a trail of devastation in Phil Campbell and Tanner. It also was similar to the path. Previsin de 7 Das Outreach Activities Light poles were damaged along Interstate 65, and a Days Inn and several other commercial buildings sustained major damage along US 31 before the tornado began to rapidly narrow and weaken. Severe Storms, Image of the Day Social media footage provides ground truth: Awful, awful, awful damage in Centreville, AL. The majority of it remained within a couple of yards of the home. More than 50 million Americans are threatened by severe weather, including about 9 million within the two zones of highest risk. Storm Data The weather service said countless trees were snapped and uprooted as the tornado moved northeast toward the Elmore-Coosa county line at U.S. Highway 231. [10] As the tornado exited the Alberta City section, the Chastain Manor Apartments (which were nailed, rather than bolted to their foundations) were completely destroyed and partially swept away. 4:30 p.m.: New tornado warning south of Tuscaloosa and flash flood warnings through Tuscaloosa and Birmingham. Meanwhile, the wind shear environment became substantially more favorable as an 80100 kn mid-level jet ejected eastward into the region. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported that the tornado was spawned by a supercell thunderstorm that lasted more than seven hours. The South is even more vulnerable, research shows. An outbreak of severe weather, including several destructive tornadoes, swept across the South Thursday, killing at least five people in Alabama and one in Georgia. This tornado initially touched down in rural northern Greene County and moved northeast through southern Tuscaloosa and western Jefferson Counties, where it caused devastating damage consistent with a violent EF4 rating to portions of the city of Tuscaloosa and western suburbs of Birmingham, before it lifted northeast of downtown Birmingham. Land Not surprisingly, several of them happened during the superoutbreak of April 27, 2011. The Storm Prediction Centers language in its forecast discussion is even stronger compared with the high-risk event last week, signaling the significant potential for an extreme event. Please Contact Us. No one was home thank God. The warning for the tornado south of Tuscaloosa, Ala. (see 4:30 p.m. update below) was upgraded to a tornado emergency, the most serious alert, due to a confirmed large and destructive tornado about 8 miles southwest of Mertz or 25 miles southeast of Tuscaloosa, shown in the image above. This is a particularly dangerous situation, the Weather Service warned. I dont know what the crap came through here, but it was evil, said Daniel Berry as he stood by the pile of debris that was once his home on Marshall Road. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). Eleven were killed and 144 injured. National Outlooks Winter Weather, About Us Residents across the Deep South NEED to prepare for significant weather today, including the very real potential for violent, long track tornadoes, wrote the Weather Service office in Jackson, Miss. (2011, May 3). Detailed damage inspection has revealed a maximum of EF-4 damage east of Holt, near Concord, and the Pleasant Grove areas. Were very accustomed to storms, and we know in the spring time that we deal with these, but you never really prepare for them.. The same rotating storm that produced numerous tornado touch downs in north central Alabama crossed the border into northwest Georgia, prompting a tornado warning for the area around Rome and just to the south. The Alberta Park Shopping Center was completely destroyed with no walls standing and a pile of debris on the foundation. It spawned a few tornadoes in Texas on Wednesday and is set to unleash vicious weather across the South. The tornado lifted just to the west of Alabama Highway 79, about 2 miles north of the city of Tarrant, though the storm was not done. #alwx #tornado #ohatchee pic.twitter.com/bPorzsebOY. These are scenes from Ohatchee, which is about 50 miles northeast of Birmingham: Major destruction from tornado just Southwest of Ohatchee, AL. Entire neighborhoods are leveled. (NASA) Recent images of the April 27 storm damage path have been captured by NASA's Terra satellite, part of NASA's Earth Observing Satellite system, or EOS. Land Along the way, it stripped a school bus down to its chassis. Photos, video of damage, How bad will 2023 tornado season be? On December 16, 2000, a destructive tornado outbreak hit the Southeastern United States, from Mississippi to North Carolina.The most significant tornado of the outbreak occurred in communities south and east of Tuscaloosa, Alabama.The F4 tornado killed 11 people and injured more than 125 others; it was the strongest tornado to hit the state of Alabama in the month of December since 1950. Although not a main damage indicator, there was also evidence of vehicles being moved, but only a couple of feet. Storms will increase in areal coverage and intensity into early evening while shifting northeastward. The watch, reserved for the most serious severe weather situations, calls for numerous tornadoes and several intense tornadoes, widespread damaging wind gusts up to 80 mph, and widespread large hail. 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