Yeah found it. I hope IEM make some sort of radar archive where you could access velocity + CC and you can just review a big radar archive of previous days. The amount of TOREs covering that area, just wow
I do understand why they didn't issue a TORE because of these reasons, but I can't say I agree with said reasons. The storm was in a absolutely maxed out environment, and also was on the outflow boundary. Like you said, Smithville formed and intensified to EF5 between scans, making it a difficult call on whether or not it should be given an emergency tag. I would like to think that many other offices would've pulled the trigger on it that weren't MEG, and it would have been the right call. Hindsight is 20/20 though. I will say I don't think it's as clear-cut as many make it out to be, but I do ultimately think they should have issued an emergency in the moment and risked being wrong simply because the environment the cell was acting upon was so extraordinary.
Forgive me if I'm wrong on this, but doesn't this more have to do with the radar holes at the time, issues with the radars themselves, and less with the actual appearance of the storm? I find it particularly difficult to believe that any storm really looked like "trash" on this day. I know while it produced the Rainsville tornado it also still looked a little odd (had a BWER on it though). Regardless, I can see what you mean here too.
It's also worth noting that the 4/15 Moundville EF3 was given a TOR-E:
Yes, I'm pretty sure that north GA corridor was in a radar hole in April 2011. I moreso mean that the radar did not give an accurate presentation of the supercell, and thus the NWS may have not properly seen the rotation. Looking at the image I don't even see inbound velocities, let alone a violent tornado. I'll put up the LSR page later; there might not have been spotter confirmation it was down due to how dark and messy it was while in Ringgold.
I could see this being the case. I mean, nothing like that tornado had ever been observed since the first usage of the TOR-E in 1999. I will say, though, that I don't think MEG should be faulted for it - in the end, even if it had been issued the second that debris ball scan went out, the same amount of lives likely would've been lost. Usually I'm a believer in the fact that TOR-Es save lives but that one wouldn't have been sent out in time, unless it had been TOR-E'd back near Amory. Overall I think every office that day tried their best, and some were just completely overwhelmed.
I actually think the poor radar presentation of Ringgold, and to some extent Rainsville, was a combination of it being in a hole plus hytop radar going down and losing power after Hackleburg severed the lines from Browns Ferry nuclear plant. I imagine the Ringgold supercell, if you had a clear look at it, was wrapped up like a top like all the storms that day. You were essentially looking at the cell not from the nearest radar because it went down.
Oof yeah, didn't remember the radar hole but yeah I don't think you get a TORE out of a presentation that sh!tty unless actual, TRUSTWORTHY (Glares at Arkansas 2022) spotter evidence of a vio is relayed to the office.
I mean, KFFC is a long way away, so that enhanced velocity signature is about all you’re getting unfortunately. But there were a lot of reports from LE and spotters on that tornado just SW of Ringgold. Now whether those reports were submitted as LSRs, that’s another story as it was a hectic day for most WFOs.
It’s still the 2nd largest outbreak in Alabama history. Which is wild.
I’d be surprised it wasn’t 4/3/1974, but then you realize that most of the AL tornadoes that day were non-cyclic (iirc) and very long-tracked, so while there weren’t that many a lot of them were exceedingly violent.
True, I didn’t think about that.
True. That said, Tornado Talk sided with the longer path length of Guin, and I haven't seen any suggestion that Jasper was more than one tornado, so perhaps there were legit long trackers that night?
You’re absolutely right about ‘74. I do think the 1932 event had more than the 15 or so tornadoes, but it still doesn’t get close to either April 2011 event.
IMO, I don’t see anything wrong with the track lengths for 4/3/74 in Alabama. Perhaps one or two were a tornado family, but the tracks are consistent with previous events with significant long track tornadoes to include 4/27/11. Even if you double the tornado count from 1974, you would barely crack the Alabama single day tornado top 10, which is crazy.
That tornado was a demon in terms of where it hit:
yup, still holds the record for most tor-es active for a single day, I hope to never have to track something of this caliber in my lifetime
still wild that Rainsville got tor-e'd, I think due to the rather impressive signature from the BMH radar as HTVs radar ended up going down
Yeah and same