![]() ![]() EDT of the supercell responsible for the Tuscaloosa and west Birmingham tornadoes on Apr. In roughly 90 minutes, the EF4 tornado claimed 65 lives along an 80-mile path from Greene County, Alabama, through Tuscaloosa into the northern suburbs of Birmingham.ĭespite the deadly toll, we'll never truly know how many lives were saved by timely National Weather Service warnings, and the considerable effort of the media to communicate those warnings. ( MORE: A Meteorologist's Marathon Broadcast of the Superoutbreak) Perhaps the most indelible live coverage of this Super Outbreak was the split screen shown on ABC 33/40 in Birmingham, Alabama, showing both a live cam of a wedge tornado roaring through Tuscaloosa, Alabama, as meteorologist James Spann was showing the classic hook echo and debris ball (indicating of tornado-lofted debris) on radar. (Weather Geeks (The Weather Channel), James Spann (ABC 33/40)) This clip was shown during an episode of Weather Geeks on The Weather Channel. Watching the Tuscaloosa Tornado LiveĪ clip from an ABC 33/40 broadcast on April 27, 2011, showed a live cam of a large tornado tearing through Tuscaloosa, Alabama (lower left), while meteorologist James Spann showed the tornado on radar (upper right). No wonder there were so many long-track, violent tornadoes. 2 in the definitive April 27 outbreak BAMS paper from Knupp, et al.) On April 27, STP values reached values from 10-12 in eastern Mississippi and Alabama in the afternoon ( see Fig. A value of 1 is considered an environment capable of at least F/EF2 tornadoes. The significant tornado parameter (STP) uses a combination of both wind shear and instability in lowest levels to diagnose the tornado risk. "I've looked through my own databases of tornado cases over the past decade, and can't find any tornado environment that even approaches this one," Davies wrote. Typically, any high values of one are at least somewhat tempered by lower values of another. Meteorologist and researcher Jon Davies blogged about the rarity of seeing such extreme values of shear and unstable air. The combination of instability (warm, humid air near the surface overlaid by cold, dry air aloft) and wind shear in the atmosphere, particularly at low levels crucial for the spawning of tornadoes was quite simply in another realm on April 27, 2011. Values of this parameter were virtually off the chart, compared to a more typical severe weather scenario. ![]() 0-3 km significant tornado parameter (STP) at 10 p.m.
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