This is incredible. Do you happen to have links to the earliest known videos/photos of the storm? I see some camera angles as it was coming through Hamilton shortly after touching down.
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Discussion of April 27, 2011 Outbreak
- Thread starter WesL
- Start date
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- 4/27 outbreak tw archive
Eoline
Member
Indeed! I have 92 of the 93 linked on the .kmz; one I forgot to upload the photo and link to it and so it's just there as a placemark.
Link; in the vicinity of (34°11'57.16"N, 88° 0'41.93"W)
Link; in the vicinity of (34°11'39.44"N, 87°59'27.18"W)
Don't have an original link; in the vicinity of (34°12'25.95"N, 87°54'16.86"W)
Don't have an original link; in the vicinity of (34°14'33.10"N, 87°56'1.77"W)
These are the four main ones leading up to Hackleburg; there's a few others but they aren't geolocatable and thus I don't have them on those graphics.
Eoline
Member
There's also this one but I'm not sure if it is at the start or end of its life, if it even is HPC.
Eoline
Member
The random fifth dot you see far from the tornado in the graphic is an accident; that one shows Smithville and not HPC.
This is awesome, thanks!
It has all the attributes of those “high-end/generational days”, the early wispy multi-vortex as it adjusts to the high shear, funnel tilt, and that fast broadening to a more stove pipe appearance. Almost reminds me of Rainsville and Cullman.
Eoline
Member
Recreated what the Great Smoky Mountains EF4 would've likely looked like from the park itself (specifically on a trail near Abrams Gap) using Blender and some editing software:
Base is too high and at too little of a slant (I'm not re-rendering everything tonight) but this is most likely what you'd be seeing if a legitimate photo did even exist.
Base is too high and at too little of a slant (I'm not re-rendering everything tonight) but this is most likely what you'd be seeing if a legitimate photo did even exist.
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WeathermanLeprechaun
Member
2nd one literally has that dead man walking appearance all over. Extraordinary view those people had from hwy 43. Must add i resurfaced that one too lmfao sorry
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WeathermanLeprechaun
Member
This is incredible work honestly
Eoline
Member
If you couldn't tell already 4/27 sorta interests me.
Eoline
Member
In a complete and utterly insane coincidence someone just made me aware of this camera operated by the NPS that was recording on that night:
Notice anything special here? You can very clearly see the entire path through the mountains (the brownish area on the ridges in the center). This means that this camera very likely recorded the tornado from an elevated, open, and wide vantage point. That screencap was taken on April 29, two days after the tornado. This is the closest webcap we have from the webcam overall, taken at 6:15 p.m. on April 27 (about an hour before the tornado moved through this area; further screencaps are unavailable):
I've reached out to both property owners in this area as well as the National Park Service to see if the data past 6:15 can be recovered or whether a power failure cut the recording past that point; if there are images from 7:00-11:00 pm they aren't publicly viewable. Absolutely wild find.
Here's another NPS AQI Monitor Webcam screencap at 8:30 pm later down into the park:
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Eoline
Member
The NPS (specifically the guy who restored the webcam on April 29 himself) got back to me very quickly and it does indeed appear that the power was cut due to the storms at 6:15, sadly. Reached back out to see if the park maintains any photos or videos.
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