Local Climate Data, Warnings and Other Products Reply. Clarence Davis, 73, was standing outside his house on Closhire Drive after debris was dumped in his yard. Also, to Gene Bussell and his crew with the AlabamaNational Guard for their cooperation with aerial surveys along this track. Updated severe weather graphic with expands the higher threats areas farther southeast. #alwx pic.twitter.com/Kfgmey9oKW, 12:30 p.m.: "[C]onfirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado south of Tuscaloosa. It then went on to impact parts of Birmingham at high-end EF4 intensity before dissipating. This was the third tornado to strike the city of Tuscaloosa in the past decade, and the second in two weeks. Multiple trailer homes destroyed as well this church and a large commercial building. As of 7 p.m., there were no tornado warnings in effect over Alabama but scattered storms continued, some severe. Forecast Discussion The Storm Prediction Center said it would like issue a new tornado watch for the northern two-third of Alabama into the nighttime hours. --> https://t.co/rfXDGIvRHe (Source: Matt Williams) pic.twitter.com/LNlh3fucvz, 2:35 p.m.: Significant tornado damage southeast of Birmingham. Tornado moving from west of Tuscaloosa, appearing to follow 15th St to the East, and then making its way towards what appeared to be the DCH and University Mall area. The weather service said the tornado continued northeast into Chambers County, causing EF-0 to EF-1 damage. The flash flood warnings cover both Birmingham and Tuscaloosa where 2 to 3 inches of rain have fallen and flooding is underway or expected to begin. Winter Weather Warnings YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. Heres a look at tornado reports from Thursday from the National Weather Service. 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. Tropical The Weather Service had already received reports of 24 twisters, 59 instances of damaging winds, and 49 reports of large hail. 11:20 a.m. - An EF-1 tornado touched down in Decatur Industrial Park, damaging roofs and leaving damage. At least two homes were shifted from their foundation. Instigating the severe weather is a high-altitude weather disturbance that ejected east out of the southern Rockies early Wednesday after passing through the Four Corners region. Police were using the Sawmeal Restaurant as a checkpoint for southbound travelers, turning back the majority who did not live in the area. The tornado crossed University Blvd in the Alberta City community. @NWSBirmingham @spann #alwx pic.twitter.com/0QhnzMfgRZ. One of the deadly tornadoes that ripped through Lee County, Alabama, was upgraded Monday to an EF-4 after meteorologists determined it brought 170 mph winds and left a track almost a mile wide. The watch indicates a near certainty (95 percent chance) of at least one strong tornado that produces EF2 or higher damage on the 0 to 5 Enhanced Fujita scale. But weather forecasters were already warning of worse to come that afternoon. Radar confirmed tornado, with a history of producing damage, is moving down the SR-119 corridor, toward Meadow Brook, Inverness. Near Union at 4:50p.m. CDT, footage of the wedge tornado was captured by meteorologist John Oldshue during a storm chase for Birmingham ABC affiliate WBMA-LD/WCFT-TV/WJSU-TV (channels 58, 33, and 40 "ABC 33/40"), which broadcast Oldshue's live video of the tornado as he was tracking it outside of town. He was thrown 100 yards into the field next to his home. 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 forecast continued to emphasize the risk of strong/violent and very damaging tornadoes, as confidence increased even further regarding the risk for an extreme, high-end tornado outbreak. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported that the tornado was spawned by a supercell thunderstorm that lasted more than seven hours. Obama was quoted as saying that he had "never seen devastation like this." NASA Earth Observatory image created by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using EO-1 ALI data provided courtesy of the NASA EO-1 team. The National Weather Service has spent the past few days tracing the path of Alabamas deadliest tornado since 2019. Tornado Database Its just destruction in those areas, Brown said. Damage at the beginning of the path ranged from EF1 to EF2. 4:30 a.m.- Tornadoes begin crossing over from Mississippi and firing along a line stretching from Pickens County to Fayette County, causing damage to homes, power lines and felling trees. US Dept of Commerce The tornado crossed McFarland Blvd, where destroyed additional stores and restaurants. [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. In the Concord area, the tornado became violent once again with total destruction noted to a few small retail shops along County Road 46. 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. Along the same stretch, the bodies of a man and woman were blown almost 100 feet from their mobile home. 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. However, this was revised to 64 deaths and more than 1,500 injuries. Many homes in this area were constructed by the method of pier and beam foundation, which led tosome of the major destruction, as this construction will not withstand winds of this magnitude. Fire Weather Winter Weather, Special Programs Between 7:00 a.m. CDT on April 25 and 7:00 a.m. on April 28, a total of 305 tornadoes struck the southeastern and central United States, according to a preliminary estimate from NOAA released May 4. Incredibly sad looking at this radar data and seeing the debris signature triple in size after passing over/near #Columbiana Alabama #tornadooutbreak pic.twitter.com/ge7gY5iLWE, 5:30 p.m.: Tornado emergency for areas about 40 miles south of Birmingham. Images of tornado damage near Tuscaloosa, Ala., seen on May 4, 2011. [24] It caused approximately $2.4 billion of property damage, surpassing the 1999 Bridge CreekMoore tornado as the costliest single tornado in United States history at that time. The storm did regenerate itself and eventually put down the EF-4tornado in the Ohatchee area. Path of the F4 tornado that ravaged Tuscaloosa and the Birmingham, Alabama areas on April 27, 2011. Past the coal yard, the tornado weakened to EF2 intensity, but still was able to destroy numerous pier and beam foundations homes and several industrial warehouses in McDonald Chapel. The storm that spawned that tornado had an even longer track. Here are the longest tornado tracks on record in Alabama. The Bethel Baptist Church also sustained significant damage to its roof, though the main structure of the building was still intact. The deadliest tornado outbreak since 1974 hit the United States on April 27, 2011. In fact, there were three just last year. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. The storm will likely across Interstate 65 south of Birmingham a little before 1:30 p.m. Tornado debris signature has returned, near West Blocton. The tornado continues to loft massive amounts of debris into the air, which is being detected by radar. As of 615 pm , there are currently no active warnings in effect in central Alabama. StormReady At that same time, the Tuscaloosa County Emergency Management Office sustained a direct hit and was totally destroyed along with most of their equipment and vehicles but with no injuries to the staff present. The tornados damage path appeared to be about a half mile wide as it passed south of the two communities, a vast expanse of downed trees and wires visible. The storm cut an 80-mile path of destruction through the heart of Tuscaloosa, killing 44 people, including six University of Alabama students. The large tornado that passed south of Tuscaloosa is now roaring east into the zone about 40 miles south of Birmingham where a tornado emergency is in effect until 6 p.m. Rivers and Lakes Any relatively discrete supercells will be capable of multiple tornadoes, some long-tracked/strong to violent (EF2-5 possible) w/considerable destructive potential, wrote the Storm Prediction Center. In addition, several cinder block homes were completely destroyed with debris swept away (EF-4). The ABC 33/40 feed was periodically disrupted due to power outages caused by wind damage to electrical transformers. The tornado formed near Moundville, which was also hit by a tornado during the outbreak last week. Unfortunately, the day is not over yet. Numerous mobile homes and several cinder block homes were destroyed in this area, which resulted in several fatalities. About Radar Storms will increase in areal coverage and intensity into early evening while shifting northeastward. A four-sided brick home in the same areaonly lost a roof and no exterior walls, which is indicative of EF-2 damage. The tornado continued northeastward out of the Concord area and into the Pleasant Grove community. The tornado then struck the suburb of Fultondale, damaging homes and businesses in town. The tornado was radar-indicated with no confirmation as of yet. Studies show we're underestimating the destructive power of tornadoes. The tally would only mount as the sun rose. The weather service noted that the damage here, rated high-end EF-2, could be partly due to the interaction of the tornado with the lake surface, as well as the exposed nature of these homes.. The tornado outbreak of April 27, 2011 cemented itself in the consciousness of every Alabamian who experienced it. A confirmed tornado, about 30 miles southwest of Birmingham, was sweeping to the northeast at 40 mph and headed in the direction of Birminghams southern suburbs. Coverage of the April 27, 2011 Tuscaloosa, Alabama tornado. 4:01 p.m. - An EF-4 tornado killed 11 people along a 28-mile path in Jackson and DeKalb counties, leveling Flat Rock and Shiloh before crossing over into Georgia. #alwx pic.twitter.com/0lqKYP5OwS. Stephen Quinn, a reporter for the Birmingham ABC television affiliate, tweeted that, according to the local fire department, multiple people [were] pulled from their homes in Eagle Point subdivision and hospitalized from the tornado that passed about 10 miles southeast of the city in the Eagle Point subdivision. 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