• Please note this new thread in the Announcements forum regarding updated management of the site. Jeff Duda has agreed to assume ownership and lead management responsibilities during what is anticipated to be a 3-12-month interim period while we perform some updates to the site, including changing the hosting. The staff will do their best to provide timely and transparent updates throughout this transition period.

  • A website update occured last week that rendered some of the page display styles obsolete. If you have logged onto the site and are experiencing a strange or messy appearance, it is likely due to this factor. An inadvertent mistake in the meantime likely made this issue worse. It has hopefully now been fixed. See this thread for details on the fix. --Jeff

1998-04-08: Oak Grove/Concord/McDonald's Chapel, AL F5

Today marks 24 years since an F5 tornado killed 32 in the western suburbs of Birmingham, AL. While the better known "Forgotten F5" hit Lawrence County, TN 8 days later, I've always felt that the Oak Grove F5 of April 8th, 1998 has also been somewhat forgotten. This tornado has personal meaning to me, since I was staying at Children's Hospital in Birmingham that night, and if the tornado hadn't lifted, the high rises in downtown were next in the path, including where I was staying.

Instead of doing a whole write up, I'm going to attach a link to the page NWS Birmingham has for the storm. It is the original write up from 1998, including damage photos, radar images, and environmental data.

 
The ground rowing will stay burned into my brain…up and down hills. Jarrell 97’ and Moore 99’ caused many to forget this nightmare.
 
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