2011-04-27 MISC: AL,TN,MS,KY,OH,IN,WV,GA

[Brandon Brown]

I've been following this thread page by page since it began and can't remember if this video was posted. If it was and I missed it, I apologize. This sure was a close call in my opinion. My thoughts are still with the citizens who were affected by this outbreak =/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIx26tN6pCk&feature=player_embedded

 

[J Allen]

While this may be the biggest multi-day outbreak in history, I still have doubts about it exceeding 148 tornadoes in 16 hours.

I tend to agree Robert. The primary difference will likely be the number of small disjoint tracks that made up the superoutbreak (particularly with the supercells that produced the high end damage which inflated the count somewhat, though there were a number of longer track tornadoes amongst those recorded), whereas this outbreak consisted of more long-track tornadoes. Still it is likely it will probably exceed 100 for that day, and quite possibly a comparable number of strong/violent tornadoes (the number of prelim EF3+ tornadoes and tornadoes yet to be surveyed is still quite large, and as the NWS has said it will still take some time before surveying is completed).

 

[Dave Gore]

I wonder how many people were saved by home tornado shelters or safe rooms. I wonder what the percentage of homes have them.
It would be interesting to hear from some of these people. What did their safe room or shelter cost them? How long ago were they installed?

Here is one example of a family being saved by a safe room from April 27th.....

I have been looking into adding a safe room or one of those garage floor storm shelters. We have a basement, but it's pretty wide open and after hearing about those in Alabama that lost their lives while taking shelter in basements, I'm seriously thinking about doing it. You can get a garage floor shelter installed for about $6000, and it only takes about 8 hours from start to finish.

 

[Ryan Pfeifer]

W/ a thread 41 pages long I expect this has been posted, but I never saw it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9Oszy_dGJY

Seems to be from a different angle than any of the other videos I saw. at 26 seconds you can see a gigantic piece of debris falling out of the tornado.

 

[Jason Harris]

Airborne but survived:

He is the boy who got sucked up into a tornado – and lived to tell the tale.

Eight-year-old Reginald Epps Jr was picked up off his feet and pulled into the swirling darkness when one of the Alabama twisters tore through his home.

As his family cowered beneath him he was carried through the air some 30ft before being set down again with just cuts and bruises.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...cked-Alabama-tornado-LIVES.html#ixzz1L9rS8Cxs

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ginald-Epps-sucked-Alabama-tornado-LIVES.html

Did anyone mention yet the Tuscaloosa track was 80.3 miles?

TORNADO 8...PRELIMINARY TUSCALOOSA/BIRMINGHAM TORNADO TRACK...

PRELIMINARY DATA...
EVENT DATE: APRIL 27, 2011
EVENT TYPE: AT LEAST EF-4
ESTIMATED PEAK WINDS (MPH): AT LEAST 165
INJURIES/FATALITIES: AT LEAST 65 FATALITIES. OVER 1000 INJURIES.
EVENT START LOCATION AND TIME: 33.0297/-87.935 AT 443 PM
EVENT END LOCATION AND TIME: 33.6311/-86.7436 AT 614 PM
DAMAGE PATH LENGTH (IN MILES): APPROXIMATELY 80.3 MILES
DAMAGE WIDTH: 1.5 MILES CROSSING I-65

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS HAVE BEGUN SURVEYING THE
MASSIVE DAMAGE ASSOCIATED WITH THIS LONG TRACK TORNADO...BY GROUND
AND AIR. THE START POINT IS BASED ON AERIAL SURVEY...WHILE THE END
LOCATION WAS DETERMINED BY A GROUND CREW. THUS FAR...DETAILED DAMAGE
INSPECTION HAS REVEALED A MAXIMUM OF EF-4 DAMAGE IN THE PLEASANT
GROVE. CASUALTY INFORMATION IS BASED ON THE LATEST OFFICIAL RELEASES
FROM THE ALABAMA EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY. THIS TORNADO WAS
PRODUCED BY A SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORM THAT BEGAN IN NEWTON COUNTY
MISSISSIPPI AT 254 PM CDT...FINALLY DISSIPATING IN MACON COUNTY
NORTH CAROLINA AT APPROXIMATELY 1018 PM CDT. SO...THIS SUPERCELL
EXISTED FOR ABOUT 7 HOURS AND 24 MINUTES...TRAVELING APPROXIMATELY
380 MILES PRODUCING SEVERAL STRONG TO VIOLENT TORNADOES ALONG THE
WAY. ADDITIONAL EVALUATION OF THE DAMAGE IN TUSCALOOSA AND JEFFERSON
COUNTY WILL CONTINUE TODAY TO DETERMINE IF THE RATING NEEDS TO BE
INCREASED. RESULTS WILL BE UPDATED WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE.

http://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=BMX&product=PNS&issuedby=BMX

 

[rdale]

I wonder how you can conclude it was 80 miles continuous if it was only partially surveyed by air? Didn't the sat pic posted show shorter lengths?

 

[Jason Harris]

I wonder how you can conclude it was 80 miles continuous if it was only partially surveyed by air? Didn't the sat pic posted show shorter lengths?

I was just parroting what I saw in the overview: "DAMAGE PATH LENGTH (IN MILES): APPROXIMATELY 80.3 MILES" Where the breaks in the path length might have been I don't know.

 

[Jeff Snyder]

Preliminary tracks map - noaa
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/images/rtimages/srh/stsd/Apr26-27/PrelimTornadoTracks_Release.jpg

Prelim info - noaa
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/april_2011_tornado_information.html

There appears to be one tornadic supercell missing from that event... I thought the tornado SW through S of Jasper, AL, was confirmed in real-time? The radar imagery of that supercell looked as good as many of the other supercells in the area, and I remember watching one of the local TV stations stream the tornado near there. Here's a radar capture (SRV 0.5 and BR 0.5) from that tornadic supercell -> http://tornadocentral.com/now/04272011_tornado_outbreak_2138utc_srv05_bmx_2panel.png ...

 

[John Farley]

The Huntsville NWS now confirms that the same tornado that hit Hackleburg also produced EF-5 damage at several locations in the Huntsville CWA including Phil Campbell, Oak Grove, and Mt. Hope. Total path length a little over 132 miles, width a mile and a quarter, peak estimated wind 210 mph. Here is the statement:

http://kamala.cod.edu/tn/latest.nous44.KHUN.html

 

[Timothy Schaffer]

The Huntsville NWS now confirms that the same tornado that hit Hackleburg also produced EF-5 damage at several locations in the Huntsville CWA including Phil Campbell, Oak Grove, and Mt. Hope. Total path length a little over 132 miles, width a mile and a quarter, peak estimated wind 210 mph. Here is the statement:

http://kamala.cod.edu/tn/latest.nous44.KHUN.html

Wow! I don't think I've ever read of a tornado like that, strength-wise, in modern times. That is an incredible amount of EF5 damage.

 

[Danny Neal]

...UPDATED FOR TUSCALOOSA/BIRMINGHAM TORNADO FINALIZED AS A HIGH END
EF-4 RATING...
...UPDATED FOR HALEYVILLE TORNADO FINALIZED AS EF-3 RATING...
...UPDATED FOR ARGO/SHOAL CREEK/OHATCHEE/FORNEY TORNADO FINALIZED AS
EF-3 RATING...
...UPDATED FOR SHOTSVILLE TORNADO FINALIZED AS EF-3 RATING...

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/images/fxc/bmx/graphicast/image_full4.gif

 

[Dave Gallaher]

We just got our power back on in NE Huntsville. Today I worked in Birmingham and the trip down I 65 afforded views of several crossings by tornadoes. I counted the one major storm path in Jefferson County north of Birmingham, three significant and three small crossings in Blount County (some of the smaller ones were isolated groups of snapped trees miles away from main damage paths--could have been outflow or RFD rather than tornadoes) and two crossings (IIRC) in Cullman County.

 

[John Peters]

Wow! I don't think I've ever read of a tornado like that, strength-wise, in modern times. That is an incredible amount of EF5 damage.

especially this wording:

IN OAK GROVE...THE TORNADO MAY HAVE REACHED A RELATIVE MAXIMUM IN
INTENSITY WELL INTO THE EF-5 CATEGORY AS THE DAMAGE WAS SLIGHTLY
MORE INTENSE AND THE PATH WIDTH WAS AT A MAXIMUM OF GREATER THAN ONE
MILE. A LARGE SWATH OF COMPLETE DEVASTATION WAS NOTED IN OAK GROVE
ALONG COUNTY ROADS 38 AND SMITH LANE. A LARGE WELL CONSTRUCTED HOME
WITH EXTENSIVE ANCHORING WAS RAZED WITH DEBRIS CARRIED WELL AWAY
FROM THE SITE. A CORVETTE WAS MANGLED AND THROWN A MEASURED 641
FEET. ANOTHER LARGE VEHICLE IS STILL MISSING. A BLOCK HOME NEXT DOOR
WAS ALSO DISINTEGRATED. ALONG SMITH LANE A BLOCK HOME WAS WIPED OUT
AND THE ONLY REMAINS OF A NEARBY CHICKEN HOUSE WAS A SMALL PIECE OF A
METAL TRUSS. IN THIS SAME AREA...THE TREE DAMAGE WAS COMPLETE AND A
LARGE PERCENTAGE OF TREES WERE STRIPPED BARE.

 

[Zack Hargrove]

...UPDATED FOR TUSCALOOSA/BIRMINGHAM TORNADO FINALIZED AS A HIGH END
EF-4 RATING...
...UPDATED FOR HALEYVILLE TORNADO FINALIZED AS EF-3 RATING...
...UPDATED FOR ARGO/SHOAL CREEK/OHATCHEE/FORNEY TORNADO FINALIZED AS
EF-3 RATING...
...UPDATED FOR SHOTSVILLE TORNADO FINALIZED AS EF-3 RATING...

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/images/fxc/bmx/graphicast/image_full4.gif

However, there is still a lot of confusion here. The actual survey for the Tuscaloosa and Birmingham tornado states that the EF4 rating is final, but it may still be upgraded. Not sure which is correct?

From the "finalized" survey:
ADDITIONAL EVALUATION OF THE DAMAGE IN TUSCALOOSA AND JEFFERSON COUNTY WILL
CONTINUE TODAY TO DETERMINE IF THE RATING NEEDS TO BE INCREASED.

 

[rdale]

If you can't outrun it in your car - get into a fire truck!

http://www.firehouse.com/stateprovi...chief-lucky-after-tornado-hits-his-fire-truck