Super Outbreak 2011 (April 25-28)

[Spankadelphia]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S_zyDoJb0o

Here's a brand new video of the Tuscaloosa tornado.  This one is really scary.

[Fair to partly cloudy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S_zyDoJb0o

Here's a brand new video of the Tuscaloosa tornado.  This one is really scary.

THAT is the ultimate definition of multiple vortices!

[Fair to partly cloudy]

Also I've noticed that you can now go to Google maps and look at the tornado tracks from April 27th (except for Tuscaloosa). On some of the locations you have to zoom in a few notches and the picture will change from the old imagery to the new. A lot of those swaths are just heartbreaking.

[Charles L.]

I know I have posted this before, but we have gained new members since then so I am posting these again.

These are pictures my youth minister took of Hackleburg, AL, a town completely destroyed by an EF-5 monster on April 27th.

Had the Wrangler Plant, which you do see in one of the pictures, not decided to rebuild in Hackleburg...the town would not be around today.

So to say the tornado wiped this town off the map was almost a reality...

http://www.examiner.com/weather-in-bowling-green/hackleburg-tornado-damage-picture

[Eric]

Someone posted this link on their FB page...really good introspective from Spann concerning the 4/27 Super Outbreak.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpGT6Ll432Q&feature=youtu.be

[mamMATTus]

Seeing storms in the forecast for Friday is a little unnerving just based on the date. Conjuring up the memories of calling up my father to warn him there was a tornado close by when that second wave came through in the afternoon...the phone went dead and the last thing I heard was a roar and "Get in the closet!!!"

[andyhb]

Someone posted this link on their FB page...really good introspective from Spann concerning the 4/27 Super Outbreak.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpGT6Ll432Q&feature=youtu.be

Gotta say that his thing about this having an extremely small chance of this ever happening again raised an eyebrow in me, he mentions it himself how people could become desensitized after a bit (Especially people like the ones filming the tornado from the University of AL campus in Tuscaloosa should nothing like 4/27 happen for awhile). The fact is, while exceedingly rare, a setup like this could easily occur again within 5 years...or next year for all we know...4/3/74 happened 9 years after 4/11/65, which was 13 years after 3/21/52, so its not like this only happens on a 35+ year basis. 2/5/08 was very similar to 3/21/52 in several ways, except the time of year.

[toastido]

From BMX:

On Thursday, April 26, 2012, the National Weather Service in Birmingham will host a one hour webinar from 630 pm

[andyhb]

Had the Wrangler Plant, which you do see in one of the pictures, not decided to rebuild in Hackleburg...the town would not be around today.

The damage to the Wrangler Plant was probably some of the most impressive I've ever seen from a tornado to a building of that size.

[Charles L.]

The damage to the Wrangler Plant was probably some of the more impressive I've ever seen from a tornado to a building of that size.

It was the worst damage I had ever seen. The completely debarked tree with that iron fencing around it was the second worse...

[andyhb]

From a conservative guess, the winds there had to have been at least in the range of 200 mph, I think some of the NWS estimates of the wind speeds in this particular tornado were underestimates (You had numerous areas along the damage path with homes completely swept away/debris pulverized and other incredible phenomena), as with some of the other tornadoes from this outbreak, and these tornadoes were moving at very high rates of speed as well, unlike some other violent tornadoes that have had comparable damage. I would've liked to see some actual wind speed measurements from the DOW or whatnot, but the poor chaser terrain discouraged this.

[Navywxman]

From a conservative guess, the winds there had to have been at least in the range of 200 mph, I think some of the NWS estimates of the wind speeds in this particular tornado were underestimates (You had numerous areas along the damage path with homes completely swept away/debris pulverized and other incredible phenomena), as with some of the other tornadoes from this outbreak, and these tornadoes were moving at very high rates of speed as well, unlike some other violent tornadoes that have had comparable damage. I would've liked to see some actual wind speed measurements from the DOW or whatnot, but the poor chaser terrain discouraged this.

That's my thinking as well. Had these storms been moving at 35-45mph, there is a chance we'd have at least another EF-5 in Tuscaloosa and possibly from the Cullman-Arab tornado.

Some just don't realize had the storm moved 10 miles further south, we'd have a whole different ballgame in terms of damage and fatalities because it would've went directly through Decatur, possibly HSV, Madison, and much of Huntsville.

[andyhb]

That's my thinking as well. Had these storms been moving at 35-45mph, there is a chance we'd have at least another EF-5 in Tuscaloosa and possibly from the Cullman-Arab tornado.

Some just don't realize had the storm moved 10 miles further south, we'd have a whole different ballgame in terms of damage and fatalities because it would've went directly through Decatur, possibly HSV, Madison, and much of Huntsville.

This, also there was a host of other slight misses that could have turned out even more disastrous, besides the one with the Huntsville/Decatur area and the Hackleburg/Phil Campbell/Tanner monster, the Tuscaloosa tornado taking the north turn right before plowing into Downtown Birmingham would have to be the other most obvious one.

As for the first point, I think Tuscaloosa/Birmingham is easily among the closest EF4/EF5 designations ever (Areas in the West Birmingham Suburbs also had extremely severe damage that rivals some of the more impressive I have seen). Cullman/Arab probably was an EF4, although others like Shoal Creek/Ohatchee and Ringgold/Apison are a bit of a different story.

[Navywxman]

If I remember correctly, one or two members of the team finalizing Tuscaloosa/B'ham went with EF-5 while the others went with EF-4. This tornado likely achieved it's strongest point between Tuscaloosa and Holt, where the 240kts G2G was shown on radar, but of course it's almost nothing but pine and oak forest out there.

I keep forgetting about the Ringgold EF-4, that thing was very close but then again FFC is known for being conservative with their ratings.

[Fair to partly cloudy]

That's my thinking as well. Had these storms been moving at 35-45mph, there is a chance we'd have at least another EF-5 in Tuscaloosa and possibly from the Cullman-Arab tornado.

Some just don't realize had the storm moved 10 miles further south, we'd have a whole different ballgame in terms of damage and fatalities because it would've went directly through Decatur, possibly HSV, Madison, and much of Huntsville.

No doubt the speed of the tornado has a direct effect on damage. A slow moving tornado can do more damage in a specific area with lesser wind speed than a stronger tornado moving at 60 mph.