Zack Hargrove
EF2
But all of Alabama is on Central time as well.... weird....
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But all of Alabama is on Central time as well.... weird....
Danny Neal
EF5
Yeah, I need to brush up on my time zones apparently, are all the surveys done in EDT? I honestly haven't even noticed. Perhaps if the tornado traveled into EDT (maybe?) that they just default to that. I am sure there is an obvious reason I am overlooking.Mike Smith
As probably the only active poster who was working the April 3rd event, I can state with absolute certainty that there were similar conversations doing on in the meteorological community five days later except there wasn't blogs to facilitate.
Fujita's team (that did the survey) didn't produce their results overnight.j_scheerer
EF1
NWS Birmingham said:
A supercell lasting over 7 hours is just incredible.
Richard Cox
Enthusiast
I've looked all over for closer views of the Tuscaloosa/Birmingham tornado as it approached the Birmingham suburbs. I finally found this, which apparently was shot from an apartment complex in Fultondale, on the very edge of the circulation. I don't think I've seen the link in this thread yet. The most relevant footage begins around 2:00.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztV9RCZV890Todd Webb
Human nature being what it is, ultimately the yardstick that this outbreak will be measured by will be the number of deaths. While those with an interest in the weather may use many different measurements for weather events, the public and media will certainly zero in on that one particular statistic.E. Clark
EF0
A must hear post outbreak chat - that is a bit different from the normal post storm discussion- but just as critical: http://www.weatherbrains.com/audio/wb050211.mp3
To quote from the website: "James Spann, Bill Murray, Dr. Tim Coleman, and Kevin Selle are joined by John Oldshue, John Brown, and Mike Wilhelm to simply share their thoughts on the horrible April 27, 2011 tornado outbreak that has killed over 300 people across the Deep South and injured thousands more. No regular features this week; it is simply a chance for these men to talk a little and decompress. A different, but important WeatherBrains. We hope you have time to listen."
These are the main meteorologists/chasers/videographers who were in the midst of the Alabama outbreak area on April 27, 2011.
Zack Hargrove
EF2
Just an update on the supposed chasers killed in Tuscaloosa. Turns out they are not dead, just severely injured and it sounds like speeding was the cause of their accident as the tornado went over their car after they were already flipped. It also seems as if there are no definitive conclusions on whether they were chasers:
From my EMA friend who found the car on the scene:
"There were some severe injury's and loss of consciousness of the whole group, they were flipped and trapped and badly injured but no one was killed.
We found them and performed an extraction, speed probably caused them to crash and the tornado covered them with heavy debris. I don't have any other details. we just treat them.
I have no idea how they're doing or even if they're still alive. They might not have even been a storm chase team, just some kids doing a movie but common sense leads me to conclusions."Glen Turner
I'm not a tornado chaser/expert, just a dude that used to live in Tuscaloosa, but I wonder what you guys think of this particular damage.
Here is the block I grew up on:
Those are mostly brick houses. The right-hand road running up/down (east/west) is 5th St. N.E. Our house is the 5th obliterated lot from the top on the right.
You can see it a little better at the 5:50-6:00 mark of this video:
Watch video >
You get the best shot of our house at about 5:55 on the video. You can see there is mostly bare earth showing, even though this was a low, solidly-built brick house.
If you go to 4215 5th St. N.E. Tuscaloosa Alabama on Google Earth you will see what this neighborhood looked like previously and you will also see a photo of our house from back when it existed. You can rotate the image to get the same angle as the video.
How does this compare with some of the other Tuscaloosa damage, and where might it stand on the EF scale? Thanks in advance for any info.
Timothy Schaffer
EF0
I'm really sorry Glen. I hope if you still have relatives and friends in the area that they are safe.
It would be great to get a hi-res photo, but the upper right of the picture appears (if the houses are solidly build) to be EF-4 damage. The house on the corner of your road and the one directly across from it look like good examples.
Interestingly, it appears the tornado narrowed around this area.Glen Turner
Thanks, Timothy. I should've mentioned that we sold the house 5 years ago after my parents died and I had no family there. So I'm not really here seeking sympathy, although yours is appreciated; I'm just curious and thought I could bring a little info to the board with the images coupled to a street address.
I have not heard of anyone dying on that street, although it's hard to imagine that no one did. Nobody would've left those homes to go to a tornado shelter, I can promise you that.
That area is still closed to the public. The flyover shot is all I've seen.
In the Google Earth image, if you zoom out, you can see that somebody had a boatyard behind our house where he built or sold boats (I don't know). In the damage video, it doesn't look as if any of the boats blew more than 100 yards or so. Most of them are piled up near a fence/tree line which makes it seem that they stayed close to the ground. Also, I get the impression that the automobiles got turned into the direction the wind was going and then got dragged a few yards and that was about it.
But our house was brick and it wasn't taken down, it was blown away. There's nothing left but what appears to be the tile shower stall. That's pretty impressive.
Jennifer Palmer
EF1
Glen... I'm so sorry.
I know how difficult that must be for you. My thoughts and prayers are with you guys. Even though you had no "actual" connection there anymore, I'm sure it still has to be painful.
I thought this was really interesting...
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mrx/?n=meso_tracks
Those are all the radar indicated mesocyclones for SE TN that day. Incredible!!!!Glen Turner
Thanks, Jennifer. Even though I live in California now and none of my family and friends were killed, injured, or displaced, I'm a proud Tuscaloosan. This thing has shaken me up and I'm still sleeping very poorly with the images of that big beast tearing through town. I'm usually pretty sturdy psychologically, and nothing really terrible happened to me personally, so I'll bet this kind of feeling is widespread in Tuscaloosa. Those folks are going to need psychological help as much as anything.
People are gonna be freaking out when the next tornado warning comes up, and this time of year they're not rare.Elaine Spencer
EF3
Glen, I am so sorry to hear about your old house and neighborhood.
I second what Jennifer said, because my hometown got hit by a tornado (F-3) a few years ago; and I will always remember the shock I felt when I arrived in town the next morning and saw the wreckage.
I still feel it, just a little, on the (now rare) occasions when I drive into that town from the same direction. I suppose the sense of loss never completely goes away -- especially if you lose people you know (two friends of my family died in that tornado).
Perhaps something that could help the people of Tuscaloosa would be simply to receive encouragement, support and advice from other people who have survived violent tornadoes... people who have been through the whole process of rebuilding their homes and communities, dealing with their losses and dealing with their fears whenever severe weather threatens again.
Jennifer Palmer
EF1
Oh you better believe it! We had some gusty wind and a little thunder today and my phone was blowing up! People are very nervous about storms here in town after what happened last week! I think this is going to last for a long time.Similar threads
