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Discussion of April 27, 2011 Outbreak

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Speaking of Cordova here are two clips that show the tornado going RIGHT over mountains. Definitely disproves the myth that tornadoes can't happen in the mountains. During the 2011 Super Outbreak there was another EF4 that caused heavy damage in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and an EF3 in Glade Springs, Virginia. There was also an outbreak of tornadoes in Park County, Colorado on June 8, 2014.



Here's another video of it shot from further distance. The structure of the wall cloud and structure above the tornado is gorgeous, especially with the barn in front it's picture perfect, like something out of a painting:

 
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Beyond the Phil Campbell roaring pass video, this one is the most frightening of the Hackleburg/Phil Campbell/Tanner tornado and as far as I'm concerned, it's one of the most scariest tornado videos of all time.


Interestingly, the intense darkness observed around 1:20 also occurred during the long-tracked F4 that passed very close to Phil Campbell on 20 April 1920. According to the April 1920 Monthly Weather Review, that tornado was also a large wedge and apparently coincided with low LCLs as well. As that tornado passed near Phil Campbell, eyewitnesses noted that conditions grew “dark as midnight” as intense darkness engulfed the area. The tornado was reportedly up to 1.5 mi wide as it obliterated forested tracts, farms, and frail miners’ homes in its path.
 
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Interestingly, the intense darkness observed around 1:20 also occurred during the long-tracked F4 that passed very close to Phil Campbell on 20 April 1920. According to the April 1920 Monthly Weather Review, that tornado was also a large wedge and apparently coincided with low LCLs as well. As that tornado passed near Phil Campbell, eyewitnesses noted that conditions grew “dark as midnight” as intense darkness engulfed the area. The tornado was reportedly up to 1.5 mi wide as it obliterated forested tracts, farms, and frail miners’ homes in its path.
Yeah that April 20, 1920 Dixie outbreak has been discussed quite a bit on here. Other than being early in the morning (as opposed to late afternoon, like 4/27/11 was) that tornado is virtually identical to Hackleburg 2011. In fact, another tornado on that day went through Neshoba County, MS through areas the 2011 Philadelphia, MS tornado did.

Anyways, stuff drawn from my previous postings you may find useful:

The MWR on the 1920 Dixie Outbreak in 2 PDF files:

1. https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/j..._1920_48_203b_tiema_2_0_co_2.xml?tab_body=pdf

2. https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/j..._1920_48_205_ttoaia_2_0_co_2.xml?tab_body=pdf

Link to only damage photos I've been able to find from that day:


Another article on it:


My previous postings:



 
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http://www.oxfordamerican.org/magazine/item/543-walking-the-tornado-line
100_0305.jpg
The leveled forest is incredible, reminds me of the aftermath of Mount St. Helens or the Tunguska Impact Event of 1908. Out of curiosity, do you happen to have the photo of a kitchen sink that was found in someone's backyard? I saw it posted on the old thread and can't seem to find it anymore.
 
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I've wondered about this myself. Some folks have pointed out that Neshoba and Kemper Counties got a lot of rain in the days leading up to the outbreak which might have compromised the soil a bit, but Monroe County had even heavier rainfall in the same time, and the ground scouring from the Smithville tornado was quite a bit less intense than the Philadelphia tornado.

I'm not sure what caused the deep trenches in Neshoba County. Maybe the dense row of trees the tornado's core passed between had a wind tunnel effect and accelerated the ground-level winds? Hard to say.
The simple answer is that extremely violent suction vortices within the main funnel did it, as is usually the case with tornadoes of this intensity.
 
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I'd really love to find the article concerning Hackleburg where they finally found a vehicle that it carried over a mile at the bottom of someone's drained pond again. If anyone knows where to look for it that'd be great.
 

buckeye05

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I'd really love to find the article concerning Hackleburg where they finally found a vehicle that it carried over a mile at the bottom of someone's drained pond again. If anyone knows where to look for it that'd be great.
If anyone would be able to get in contact with Chris Darden of BMX, he’d be able to confirm this.
 
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As the archive is going, just brings back the emotion of that day. I remember seeing the video on YouTube that day where the guy got extremely close to the monster in Tuscaloosa. As it came into Georgia, it looked like for a moment it was coming directly at us. As it got closer, I could tell it was going north. I just remember how scary the idea of being in the direct path of a tornado that strong was, as I can only imagine how terrifying it was for those who were.


The horizontal vortices on that thing are at their most intimidating in this video; the fear from the person taping the storm is palpable, really lucky he wasn't killed.
 

TH2002

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I'd really love to find the article concerning Hackleburg where they finally found a vehicle that it carried over a mile at the bottom of someone's drained pond again. If anyone knows where to look for it that'd be great.
Was the pond drained after the tornado or did the tornado suck all the water out of the pond? I do know that the latter happened as a result of the 1973 San Justo tornado.
 
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It is interesting to speculate how 27 April 2011 might have transpired had the warm sector farther north not become saturated due to convection. Synoptic-scale shear parameters were even more impressive from TN northward to the Ohio River Valley. If I recall correctly, the orientation of the mid-to-upper-level trough signature meant that the EML did advect as far north as it on, say, 3 April 1974, so the warm sector did not remain uncontaminated as far north as it did on the latter date.
 
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Was the pond drained after the tornado or did the tornado suck all the water out of the pond? I do know that the latter happened as a result of the 1973 San Justo tornado.
It was from a newspaper article that a Crown Victoria was found in someone's pond after it was drained; the vehicle wasn't located until a year later due to this fact. I think Lori or one of the moderators were the first to post the article on the site. Or something like that. Driving me nuts that I can't find it now.
 

TH2002

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It was from a newspaper article that a Crown Victoria was found in someone's pond after it was drained; the vehicle wasn't located until a year later due to this fact. I think Lori or one of the moderators were the first to post the article on the site. Or something like that. Driving me nuts that I can't find it now.
I've looked everywhere for the article and I can't find it either. Only a post from a 2017 thread mentioning Lori posted the link to the article on the old forum.
 

MNTornadoGuy

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I've found it interesting how many of the violent tornadoes from 4/27/11 dug holes and trenches. Cordova, Smithville, and Philadelphia all dug large holes/trenches. I do wonder if the other tornadoes might have dug small trenches/holes in rural areas.
Screenshot_2021-02-20 April 2011 Tornado Response Imagery.jpg
Screenshot_2021-02-20 April 2011 Tornado Response Imagery.png
 

akt1985

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If you would like more information about how the 2011 Superoutbreak impacted eastern Tennessee and southwest Virginia, James Spann’s Weather Brains podcast will feature Mark Reynolds of WJHL-TV in Johnson City, Tennessee on April 19 about the impact of the event in his area.
 
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