Historic Tornado Outbreak April 27, 2011

[andyhb]

The second video I posted is a great look at the incredible structure of the parent supercell of the Rainsville tornado (and also 3 other violent tornadoes).

[Superstorm93]

The second video I posted is a great look at the incredible structure of the parent supercell of the Rainsville tornado (and also 3 other violent tornadoes).

One of my favorites of all time...

Who says that tornadoes can't cross large hills?

The structure is simply incredible.

[Buckeye05]

While we are posting videos, let me share some crazy but little known Tuscaloosa videos.

Crazy close..

Almost direct hit here, and contains some of the best tornado roar audio iv'e heard

And this is the Hackleburg/ Phil Campbell tornado as it hit Harvest. This may be the scariest sky I have ever seen in a tornado video.

[Stebo]

While we are posting videos, let me share some crazy but little known Tuscaloosa videos.

Crazy close..

Almost direct hit here, and contains some of the best tornado roar audio iv'e heard

And this is the Hackleburg/ Phil Campbell tornado as it hit Harvest. This may be the scariest sky I have ever seen in a tornado video.

Great videos but the thing is all 3 of these videos should have never been shot, because all three should have been in their basements/safe places.

[JoMo]

And this is the Hackleburg/ Phil Campbell tornado as it hit Harvest. This may be the scariest sky I have ever seen in a tornado video.

That facility was actually hit by a tornado on March 2nd of this year.

[Superstorm93]

Honestly, I don't think they knew any better. Some of the folks in the videos barely knew they were looking at a tornado.

[andyhb]

Of note, the three fatalities added to the 4/27 event now make 2011 the second deadliest tornadic year on record in the United States.

[Amped]

Honestly, I don't think they knew any better. Some of the folks in the videos barely knew they were looking at a tornado.

No they said Tornado plenty of times in all those videos. They wouldn't have filmed it if they thought it was a normal Tstorm.

[codfishsnowman]

While we are posting videos, let me share some crazy but little known Tuscaloosa videos.

Crazy close..

Almost direct hit here, and contains some of the best tornado roar audio iv'e heard

And this is the Hackleburg/ Phil Campbell tornado as it hit Harvest. This may be the scariest sky I have ever seen in a tornado video.

The last video in this post is the kind of "end of the world type stuff" I am talking about. Looks similar to Joplin Mo....just sick!

[Calderon]

New video has been posted of the the monsterous north Alabama EF-5 as it passed near Hackleburg and Phil Campbell. This home was on the very edge of the path and winds I'd say are easily in the 80-100mph range. The sound is incredible and the motion of the funnel for a tornado nearly a mile wide is absolutely astounding.

[andyhb]

Terrific video.

[Buckeye05]

New video has been posted of the the monsterous north Alabama EF-5 as it passed near Hackleburg and Phil Campbell. This home was on the very edge of the path and winds I'd say are easily in the 80-100mph range. The sound is incredible and the motion of the funnel for a tornado nearly a mile wide is absolutely astounding.

Oh man the sound is terrifying. That earth shaking roar.

[JoMo]

New video has been posted of the the monsterous north Alabama EF-5 as it passed near Hackleburg and Phil Campbell. This home was on the very edge of the path and winds I'd say are easily in the 80-100mph range. The sound is incredible and the motion of the funnel for a tornado nearly a mile wide is absolutely astounding.

I think you've nailed my search for what the Joplin tornado sounded like from where I was. The roar sounded a lot like that. Dull, then getting louder, than dull again. Just stick in some high-pitched squeal from air being sucked in through the garage door and you have it.

[Amped]

I think you've nailed my search for what the Joplin tornado sounded like from where I was. The roar sounded a lot like that. Dull, then getting louder, than dull again. Just stick in some high-pitched squeal from air being sucked in through the garage door and you have it.

Sounds kind of like Rice Crispies only 10,000X louder.

I was wondering if you could hear people screaming or does the wind mangle that too?

[Met1985]

New video has been posted of the the monsterous north Alabama EF-5 as it passed near Hackleburg and Phil Campbell. This home was on the very edge of the path and winds I'd say are easily in the 80-100mph range. The sound is incredible and the motion of the funnel for a tornado nearly a mile wide is absolutely astounding.

Wow what a video!

[JoMo]

Sounds kind of like Rice Crispies only 10,000X louder.

I was wondering if you could hear people screaming or does the wind mangle that too?

I was on the edge of it, like this video was. Never thought the rumble would stop, it sounded just like it did on that vid....Was just waiting to hear windows break and the house to start ripping apart but knew that once the sound started getting quieter it was passing over (had no idea 3 blocks away was completely destroyed).

The sound is still very fresh in my head.

And no, too far away to hear any of that.

[arcc]

New video has been posted of the the monsterous north Alabama EF-5 as it passed near Hackleburg and Phil Campbell. This home was on the very edge of the path and winds I'd say are easily in the 80-100mph range. The sound is incredible and the motion of the funnel for a tornado nearly a mile wide is absolutely astounding.

Absolutely incredible motion. Wow..

[gymengineer]

this was actually one of the more interesting vids i came across.. the great smoky mtns EF4

The aerial views starting around 1:06 are reminiscent of Teton '87 and the PA forest tornadoes '85.. although maybe not as wide as those monsters.

[cyclone77]

Don't know if this one was posted yet. Sort of an interesting perspective here shot at the University of Alabama. The video starts about 15min before the tornado moves past when it was still raining. It's interesting watching the updraft base/wall cloud/tornado appear out of the rain of the FFD.

[andyhb]

So I just listened to that Hackleburg/Phil Campbell video with volume on full blast...holy ****

[andyhb]

Screen cap of the Phil Campbell tornado going through the city/around that area, taken from the Country Road 71/Mon Dye road area on the east side of town near Little Bear Creek, looking back WNW towards the wedge tornado, likely with EF5 damage occurring right as this shot was taken.

 

[Natester]

New footage of the Tuscaloosa tornado.  At the 35 second mark, you'll notice that it gets dark very quickly.

 

 

After watching the video a few times, it appears that the tornado passed just feet from their house.

[JoMo]

That was frightening and quick. 

[SmokeEater]

New footage of the Tuscaloosa tornado. At the 35 second mark, you'll notice that it gets dark very quickly.

After watching the video a few times, it appears that the tornado passed just feet from their house.

Holy hell, it's amazing how many people that day who were shooting video, were oblivious to how close they almost came to getting swept off the face of this earth.

[kperk014]

Holy hell, it's amazing how many people that day who were shooting video, were oblivious to how close they almost came to getting swept off the face of this earth.

 

This is a fairly unseen video (about 1,800 views) that reminds no matter how awe-inspiring a tornado can be, there's something terrible going on under it. Check out the exchange at about 3 minutes when the tornado sprouts it's multiple vortices. There is cheering until someone reminds them that people are dying with a little profanity.

[andyhb]

Now officially 2 years since this event, kind of hard to believe to be honest.

[Met1985]

New footage of the Tuscaloosa tornado.  At the 35 second mark, you'll notice that it gets dark very quickly.

 

 

After watching the video a few times, it appears that the tornado passed just feet from their house.

Wow crazy videos. This day has been brought up a lot living in the mountains and having tornadoes tear through small towns across the boarder from me in TN.

[tornadotony]

I was focused heavily on the HSV-area storms yesterday, since I have family there, and I agree to an extent. It appeared to me that the outflow boundary from the MCS may have been draped across the northern row of counties in AL for several hours during the height of the outbreak. One storm in particular, which initially produced the catastrophic Hackleburg/Phil Campbell tornado, seemed to weaken a bit as it moved northeast from that area. Then, it suddenly went crazy upon reaching the Tennessee River, producing the Limestone Co. wedge near Tanner/Athens with visibly much-lower LCL's than the southern storms. For the rest of the afternoon, supercells trained over this general corridor and would each develop strong low-level rotation as they entered the Dectaur/Huntsville metro area.

On the other hand, it still seems that the most prolific, violent tornado-producers were over the open warm sector, south of any clearly-defined boundaries from early convection. So, while I don't believe the MCS is what "made" this outbreak by any means, it may have at minimum not reduced its overall severity.

Was rereading this thread and just came across this...

A buddy of mine here at UAH is studying this boundary for his M.S. thesis. The Hackleburg tornado was along or just N of that boundary for most of it's life. It was high-end EF3 to EF5 intensity all the way from just SW of Hackleburg to near dissipation in nrn Madison County, an incredible distance of about 85 miles. The Cullman tornado crossed the boundary near the Cullman/Morgan County line, where it grew to 1 mi wide, high-end EF4, and there was a substantial loss of visibility. Both storms dropped tors within an hour of first echo, 50 min in the case of Hackleburg. He had an oral presentation at SLS last year on it that should be available on the conference site.

[brettjrob]

Was rereading this thread and just came across this...

A buddy of mine here at UAH is studying this boundary for his M.S. thesis. The Hackleburg tornado was along or just N of that boundary for most of it's life. It was high-end EF3 to EF5 intensity all the way from just SW of Hackleburg to near dissipation in nrn Madison County, an incredible distance of about 85 miles. The Cullman tornado crossed the boundary near the Cullman/Morgan County line, where it grew to 1 mi wide, high-end EF4, and there was a substantial loss of visibility. Both storms dropped tors within an hour of first echo, 50 min in the case of Hackleburg. He had an oral presentation at SLS last year on it that should be available on the conference site.

 

Interesting -- I'll check that out, and be on the lookout for any publications from his work. I've driven through the Hackleburg-Harvest damage path where it crossed US-72A near Trinity a few times already. Impressive. (Actually, when I visit my parents in HSV next, my trip will be bookended by that and the Moore/Shawnee paths on I-35/40 -- three incredibly impressive swaths across major highways).

[tornadotony]

Interesting -- I'll check that out, and be on the lookout for any publications from his work. I've driven through the Hackleburg-Harvest damage path where it crossed US-72A near Trinity a few times already. Impressive. (Actually, when I visit my parents in HSV next, my trip will be bookended by that and the Moore/Shawnee paths on I-35/40 -- three incredibly impressive swaths across major highways).

I've seen the track thru Anderson Hills, Old Railroad Bed Rd, US 72, Tanner, Hillsboro, Mt. Hope, Oak Grove, Phil Campbell, and Hackleburg. It's incomprehensible that it was all one tornado. Just unfathomable. It goes on and on and on and on forever seemingly.