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Discussion of April 27, 2011 Outbreak

CheeselandSkies said:
Anyone know of any notable 15th anniversary events/retrospectives planned by either local NOAA offices, media outlets, or the communities that were impacted?
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Yes; HUN is conducting a 4/2011 re-analysis this year (they only mentioned the 4/20 timeframe but I’m 100% confident they meant 4/27 as they said “teams” were going to investigate). As far as I’m aware has never officially (or unofficially) been publicly discussed outside of that email.
 
Eoline, AL EF3
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Some sub-vortex and RMW action going on here.
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Very violent tree lofting and shredding, as well as trenching. This tornado was without a doubt in the EF4+ range.
 
akt1985 said:
You can agree or disagree with this statement, but James Spann says that April 27, 2011 was Alabama’s 9/11.
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I can only imagine that the feeling of watching the Tuscaloosa tornado touching down in a heavily populated area was like watching the second plane hit the world trade center.
In a way, both were the dividing line between a significant event and a historic one.
 
ThatGuy;P said:
I can only imagine that the feeling of watching the Tuscaloosa tornado touching down in a heavily populated area was like watching the second plane hit the world trade center.
In a way, both were the dividing line between a significant event and a historic one.
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Not to mention, imagine watching this about to come near the downtown of the biggest metropolitan area in your state:
 
Jaws theme plays

Lake Martin EF4 said:
15* years.

Philadelphia
New Wren
Hackleburg
Cordova
Smithville
Flat Rock
Tuscaloosa
Rainsville
Ohatchee
Ringgold
Barnesville

Cullman
Bridgeport
Haleyville
Eoline
Enterprise
Chilhowee Lake
New Harmony
Lake Martin
Pine Log
Lake Burton

Fun fact: The Huntland, TN EF3 has officially been added to the DAT (back in 2024, actually!) and is listed as a separate tornado on Wikipedia. Path length of 16.30 miles. Hackleburg tornado is 102.3 miles and apparently has had the death count corrected to 71.

Also on this day, the Vilonia, AR EF5 (I REFUSE to call it an EF4) in 2014, the Marietta, OK EF4 in 2024, and a few other significant tornado events I can't quite recall now.

TBA: a lot of videos and other media about all the major 4/27 events, especially 2011's.
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Lake Martin EF4 said:
"At 4:16 AM, while most Alabamians slept soundly and unaware, the first tornado reached into the dark of rural Alabama and filled the air with a lonely roar and the snapping of tall pines."

- "What Stands in a Storm," p. 21.
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Lake Martin EF4 said:
(Apologies for double posting, I had to separate this for going over the character limit. Actually, I had to split the "footage" section too.)
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Lake Martin EF4 said:
Beware the 27th day of April........
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Lake Martin EF4 said:
"At 4:16 AM, while most Alabamians slept soundly and unaware, the first tornado reached into the dark of rural Alabama and filled the air with a lonely roar and the snapping of tall pines."

- "What Stands in a Storm," p. 21.
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I feel like there should have been a movie made about this outbreak, based at least in part on this book. The opening scene would be based on this description, and somewhat resemble the opening scene of Twister (1996) with young Jo and her family, only of course set in 2011 Alabama. James Spann and Jason Simpson would replace Gary England on the TV, etc.

The problem is, I've discovered after seeing Twisters (2024), despite all the advances in technology, no one in Hollywood still seems to be able to make CGI tornadoes that look and behave realistically.
 
This time 15 years ago:
James: Let's look at the Cullman Skycam, and I'll tell you right now, the dewpoint is 70.
Jason: WOW! Look at that!
James: Goodness gracious, look at those cloud bases. Are you kidding me?
Jason: I didn't think we'd see them that far away!
James All right... That's our wall cloud so we can now focus in on this. Even though the tornado isn't offically down, I'm going to call this a tornado emergency for Cullman and northeast of there. It's time to go to your shelters and wait it out.

5 minutes later:
Jason: Look at that! The funnel is getting tighter!
James: I see that!
Jason: Let's zoom in on that thing. I'm going to take the higher compression off so we can move faster. Look at that; it's offically on the ground now.
James: Right, this is now a tornado emergency for the City of Cullman.
Jason: West Cullman, you are in most danger of this. Anyone living in the City of Cullman MUST be in your shelters immediately, for we have a tornado live on our skycam.
James: All right, this is offically a tornado emergency for the City of Cullman at 2:46. (Thus starting the final 7.5 hours of terror that day).
 
CheeselandSkies said:
I feel like there should have been a movie made about this outbreak, based at least in part on this book. The opening scene would be based on this description, and somewhat resemble the opening scene of Twister (1996) with young Jo and her family, only of course set in 2011 Alabama. James Spann and Jason Simpson would replace Gary England on the TV, etc.

The problem is, I've discovered after seeing Twisters (2024), despite all the advances in technology, no one in Hollywood still seems to be able to make CGI tornadoes that look and behave realistically.
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CGI artists have no clue what a tornado actually looks like. It's a pretty common thing with movies like that for some reason.
 
akt1985 said:
Right about now 15 years ago, an EF4 tornado was moving into Tuscaloosa.
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"This will be a day that will go down in state history--and all you can do is pray for those people."
--James Spann, as the tornado enters Tuscaloosa.
 
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