Topic: Historic Tornado Outbreak

[scottm]

As a side note, im far south of that when it was taking place, and that's all that was on tv, live coverage even on local channels. Something like that doesn't  happen very often, it ranks up there with many other historic life changing events.

[W Thomas]

It certainly does!  It's a date that I know I'll always remember for two major reasons...One I was spared and 2 for those who wasn't

Sheer carnage!

[Downlinerz2]

    I heard some mets on TWC talking about comparing this outbreak to '74.  They said that while there were more tornadoes in this one, the '74 event had a total path length of over 2500 miles.  That rocked my mind.  That is a whole bunch of long lived tornadoes.
    To the people of Tuscaloosa and Birmingham and the other areas hit, the 2011 outbreak was far worse.  To the people of Xenia and other places in '74, that was the worse. Both of these events was of a magnitude that I hope is not repeated in my life -time at least.
    Mark

[HailHunter]

Yeah, just because this one was bigger (perhaps we still don't have official word on that) doesn't mean it eclipses the other outbreaks. The Palm Sunday Outbreak of the 1960s and the Super Tuesday Outbreak of 2008 are still both just as important in weather history as what took place yesterday and what took place in 1974.

[Roll_Tide11]

Man what a day yesterday.... I like many of you love studying weather but it puts it into perspective when it actually comes after you...My newlywed wife and I just moved into our new home a little over a week ago and have just got settled in so we have not had time to install a storm shelter. The house we bought is a newly built house but no good place to take shelter...It has 2 hall closets but they are small coat and linen closets so the only other place is in a bedroom closet and I just did not feel safe there...I had been tracking the Tuscaloosa/BHam tornado for a few hours thinking about what we would do if it stayed on track which put us right dead square in its cross hairs. When it got past Bham and I heard James Spann report there was business leveled in southwest Bham I knew I had a decision to make. I waited until it was 20 miles away, something I should have never done, then I did a final storm track on it using GR2.... It was headed directly for our community, which is in the southwest side of Etowah County... Since I did not feel safe in the closet we jumped in the truck and headed north...I know not the safest and defiantly not the smartest thing to do but I still think it was our best option...In the end it went about 1 and a half miles south of our house but the devastation in Ohatchee Al was horrible like with the rest of the state and south. If I had it to do over again I think I would do the same thing but I know one thing is for sure, we will have a storm shelter installed very soon...On a sad note a couple we know was badly hurt....She was 8 months pregnant and they took a direct hit....It picked up the house and threw it about 100 yards... She had a cut from her foot going half way up her leg and he has internal bleeding, severe concision and they think they will have to amputate his arm....I still can not believe how many people lost their lives and the number just keeps climbing.

[Roll_Tide11]

Just pulled the data on the Tornado near my house... Here are 2 screen shots of them, I am still in awe that we had no damage other than a few down tree limbs in our sub-division..I detailed where our house is located on the Relf. of both images..Looks like our house was right in the inflow notch..The highest Velocity I found in these 2 shots are +139 and -105 which is a hell of a tornado...This is the same tornado that hit Tuscaloosa and Bham....

[HailHunter]

Glad you and your wife made it through alright.

[WeatherHost]

Remember, it's only April.

[SlowModem]

I live in a double wide, so for us, a storm shelter was a no-brainer.  We researched them and ended up buying ours from a company in Jackson, TN.

http://www.fainstormshelters.com/

I am very satisfied with my shelter and they are good people to deal with.  (I am in no way associated with this company).

I hope your community is able to recover quickly.

Good luck!

[CNYWeather]

Very sad reading all the accounts. NY ended up with 8 tornados confirmed so far.
EPIC outbreak!

[ctccbc]

Anyone hear from the guy at MadAlWx? I noticed his site stopped updating at around 5:15 pm on Weds. Hope he didnt get hit.

[CNYWeather]

I just sent him an email.

I did see on an rss feed on his site this:

* Power is expected to be out for another 2-5 days
* Residents are asked to conserve water, generators in place to maintain water and sewer services
* Dusk to Dawn curfew is in effect


Looks like his town is 10 miles west of Huntsville.

[W Thomas]

Im sure some of that video is awesome. All our damage was at night

[Maumelle Weather]

Hi folks,

Found a note in MadAlWx's Shoutbox at the bottom of his homepage.  He has no damage to property or themselves, but has no power. His brother had brought down a generator for some temp. power and occasional internet connection.  He has his camera's video backed up on the computer.  He may have some very interesting video, if the camera was pointed in the right direction.

John

[Chris H.]

I don't even see his member name anymore in the list.

[IMADreamer]

Saw this on the Weather Channel.  wow.

http://youtu.be/aW6y505sOko

[Downlinerz2]

    Amazing video from the air with Dr. Forbes.  He is for sure one of my top hero's!  I am so glad that MadAlWx is ok.  And Roll_Tide11, it is amazing that you did not suffer some major damage. From that radar you were nearly in the jaws of the monster.  Glad to hear that all of you down south have gotten through it all.
    I know that I will never be able to see or hear Dr. Forbes without remembering the emotion in his voice as he described what he was seeing on radar and when he was describing the live video Jeff Morrow broadcast live from Birmingham as that huge black monster churned along to the north.  Even before that debris was falling from the sky in Birmingham just after the tornado hit Tuscaloosa that was 30 -40 miles away.  I know things are found hundreds of miles away sometimes but to watch stuff falling from a partly cloudy sky live on TV was shocking.   And, thanks to you all for sharing how you were feeling as this was happening.  This forum, and you all, have been a great help through all this.
    Mark

[ocala]

Spoke to my brother this afternoon. He lives in NE Alabama in town called Scottsboro. There were T's all around his location but luckily none real close. There were some fatalities in the area but he's OK. Said they have no power for the next week as the primary electrical lines were taken down. He had to go to Chattanooga to get gas as everything in northern Alabama is shut down because of no power. He said the Walmart in Chattanooga was pretty wiped out but at least they had power.
He hasn't gone out much as there is a curfew in place because no street lights are working and nothing is open.   

[HailHunter]

The Wikipedia entry has been updated for the Super Outbreak, and I don't know about anyone else, but reading some of this actually sent chills up my spine:

The Super Outbreak is the second largest tornado outbreak on record for a single 24-hour period. From April 3 to April 4, 1974, there were 148 tornadoes confirmed in 13 US states, including Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and New York; and the Canadian province of Ontario. It extensively damaged approximately 900 square miles (2,330 square kilometers) along a total combined path length of 2,600 miles (4,160 km).
The Super Outbreak of tornadoes of 3–4 April 1974 remains the most outstanding severe convective weather episode of record in the continental United States. The outbreak far surpassed previous and succeeding events in severity, longevity and extent. With a death toll of over 300, this outbreak was the deadliest since the 1925 Tri-State Tornado and its associated outbreak until the April 25–28, 2011 tornado outbreak, which killed at least 318 people.

[Roll_Tide11]

Appreciate all your kind words...We are very lucky not to have had any damage and for all our loved ones to be alive... I am now trying to decide whether we want to build a safe room out of concrete and steel rods or install a storm shelter. I just learned that our county has a program that pays for most of the costs associated with installing a storm shelter so I am going to look into that.

[WeatherHost]

Wanna see something spooky?

http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/110428_modis_250m_ch01_ch02_TCL_anim.gif

Note the yellow arrows.  (This image is 1.4Mb)

This is the same image in full color, but without the yellow arrows.  (871Kb)

http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/?2011118-0428/Alabama.A2011118.1855.250m.jpg



Have you seen the aerial/satellite before and after pictures?

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/04/alabama_tornadoes_close-up_sat.html

[W Thomas]

Spooky is almost an understatement isn't it !
Before and after is almost like there never was a "before"

This was a rare outbreak of tornadoes no doubt. My wife was born the year of the Super Outbreak and doesn't remember it but I do and I just had one of those gut feelings that this one was going to be as bad or worse right from the start and told her that maybe a couple of hours before our neighbors to the south of us were destroyed.   

[Downlinerz2]

   Ghastly is the word in my mind tonight.  In the second set of pics there is a row of houses and then in the after there is no sign whatsoever that they were there.  In other places you can see the pads or a scar that shows the house was there.  This was nothing there!  I thought there was something out of line with the slide gizmo but no.  There was just nothing. 
   This afternoon I saw a video of people looking for a young child.  They were turning over wreckage of the house where they lived.  I just don't want to think about this thing for a day or so but it's impossible .
    God Bless Alabama!!!
     Mark

[HailHunter]

Appreciate all your kind words...We are very lucky not to have had any damage and for all our loved ones to be alive... I am now trying to decide whether we want to build a safe room out of concrete and steel rods or install a storm shelter. I just learned that our county has a program that pays for most of the costs associated with installing a storm shelter so I am going to look into that.

I'd definitely go with the storm shelter idea. Safe rooms are good and safe 99% of the time, but with some of the stuff I've seen out of Smithville, even a safe room wouldn't have maintained its integrity above ground. A below ground storm shelter is probably the best bet or one that is mounded up into a hill. I have seen them around here that were just a foot or two from the house where you step out of a door and right into the storm house that has several feet of soil on it. Almost like a safe room except it's outdoors.

[WeatherHost]

"God Bless Alabama!!!"

I think 'God" kinda gave Alabama the finger.