April 27th 2011 Tornadoes: The Super Outbreak

On April 27th 2011, one of the worst tornado outbreaks/natural disasters to ever impact the United States unfolded across the southeast, where hundreds of Tornadoes would ravage towns full of people and property. In this short documentary, we dive into some of the tornadoes which defined this tornado outbreak, and look into the entire outbreak sequence which proceeded the 4/27 tornado outbreak.

This project was made across a span of 3 days, with a few person team collecting information about the tornadoes, and one person editing. I would appreciate any sort of feedback in the comments, as this is our first documentary ever. Thank you for watching, and stay tuned for new content very soon.

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All damage images were found using NWS Sources, or google images, as well as a few tornado images used throughout the video.

Music:

[bendougherty]

Lived it. I lived in Athens, and my house was hit by the Hackleburg tornado when it went through my area. I'll never forget watching debris fall from the sky. The whole day is was tornado sirens and storms. I saw the tornado move to the south of us and knew my house had been hit. I was stuck on the side of my road and jumped over trees and power lines to get home to see if my house was there and my dog was alive. The house was damaged, but Bailey, was fine! Thank God! I remember the fierce storms in the morning. The tornado sirens finally broke and we were without power at home for a week and a half. I drove home from work in pitch blackness because most of North Alabama was in the dark due to destroyed TVA power lines. I always said I wanted to see a tornado and hope to NEVER see one again. This was enough! I could fill up many, many pages of stories of people who lived through that day here.

[centralcontroller]

As someone living in tornado alley. Hearing you are in the bullseye is one of the scariest things you can ever hear

[WatashiWannabe]

I lived this firsthand. As an amateur/hobby meteorologist, I'd been following weather models recreationally, and I noticed the computer models' unusual agreement and consistency with this outbreak, even 8-10 days in advance, which is extremely rare (to this day, I can't honestly recall any weather event being so consistently forecast by weather models that far in advance)...and the models' parameters only intensifying as the event approached. About 36 hours before the outbreak, the night of the 25th, I wrote an extremely lengthy and detailed Facebook post (mostly directed at friends and family in the area) signaling the likelihood of a historic tornado outbreak on the 27th across much of the Southeast. And then, I went on a short couple days' getaway, to Cherokee, North Carolina...which took me and my fiancee out of harm's way, but made it virtually impossible for me to keep track of the computer models. A strong storm rolled through Cherokee about 9:45 that Wednesday morning, then the sun came out and it got very warm, at which point I realized my nightmares were only beginning. Got a call from my mother at about 6:30 PM, saying the sky was green and that there was quarter- to half-dollar-size hail falling at home...my fiancee and I were eating at IHOP in Ellijay, GA at the time. I told her to get my dad and the cats and get in the basement immediately, then told my fiancee we needed to finish eating and get home, as I believed my parents and home were in danger.

The ride home was an hour and a half over the mountains (arrived back about 8:05-8:10), to get back to Cleveland, TN...first stop was my fiancee's house, which had been without power for about 5 hours, amid purple skies and the most continuous lightning I'd ever seen. I went in, made sure everything was OK there, before I drove the remaining 10-15 minutes home. When I left, I noticed the sky had become much darker, partially because of the sun setting, but also because of the inbound storm. My van's radio was on a station I never listen to and never set it to, but it happens to be the best station to listen to when severe weather happens...as the on-air meteorologist (Paul Barys of WRCB Channel 3 out of Chattanooga) described the radar, I understood the grave danger of the Ringgold tornado, as it was on the ground already by that point. As I left and drove west, I reached an opening which allows one to look out for some distance (perhaps 20 miles or more) to the west and south. By that point, the sky had gone navy blue with a yellow background toward the west, but an interruption in that yellow in the form of a wide navy blue cylinder stretching from the cloud to the ground, and visibly rotating as it moved left to right. Half in shock, half in honest reaction, I said out loud, "That's a tornado...I'd better run!" Here I was, driving a 1987 GMC conversion van, with 8 cylinders, bald tires, and bad brakes...and I was determined to outrun this tornado and get home. So I drove up the first main road going home, going about the speed limit (45 mph), and when I reached the stop sign at the next main road, I realized the speed limit wasn't going to be enough, so I floored it as the rain began to fall, 65, 70, 75 mph...left eye aimed left at the tornado, right eye on the road ahead. Five miles up the road, where the speed limit drops to 45 mph, I saw the width of the tornado entering my forward field of view, and realized I wouldn't make it. Slammed on the brakes, didn't immediately stop, and ended up feeling the pull of the tornado as it tried to suck me in for what seemed like a good half a minute...until suddenly, I stopped, my cheap Wal-Mart headlights hitting the tornado on the level, no more than 30 feet in front of me. Some people have these moments, where they know they've stared death in the eyes and lived to tell the tale...that was my moment.

As the last few wisps of the tornado crossed the road, I began to drive forward, branches of 6 to 12 inches' diameter falling out of the sky like rain all around, not one hitting my van. A couple hundred yards ahead, a pickup truck was coming my way, flashing his headlights rapidly and repeatedly...and then I saw why, as a 12-inch diameter tree was felled across the road. Upon using that tree as a speed bump, I arrived at an intersection...power lines and street lights strewn on the ground, two gas stations with roofs torn off, and a brick barber shop completely razed to the ground. After a bit of trying to figure a way through the debris, and finding alternate routes blocked by massive downed trees, I was able to make it home...all the words I could get out of my mouth to my parents, upon seeing they were safe and the house was fine..."I saw the tornado...it's headed towards Michigan Avenue and out Highway 64...it's HUGE, and it's BAD!" After trying to call my fiancee to tell her I made it home, I didn't speak again the rest of the night. I couldn't. I wrote a version of this same story in a Notepad file that night on my laptop...and that was all I was able to do. We were without power for the following 6 days. Sure, I wasn't the only one impacted, and there were many who had it far worse than I did...but out of a hundred thousand stories from that day, this is mine.

[JohnnyLoveseat]

Thank you for touching on the morning outbreak! The power outages this caused played a huge part in why the fatality count ended up being as high as it did, and no one else ever mentions it.

[chrisgarcia]

I stumbled upon this a few days ago but keep going to it when I want my fix on the 2011 outbreak. Two main reasons why I feel y’all did a better job than the other ‘documentaries’ that have been shown on TV:

1: y’all give the major tornadoes equal time describing the power and destruction and not heavily focus on Tuscaloosa (not taking anything away from them)

2: every single series I’ve seen focuses on the afternoon outbreak. You went one step further and introduced the origin of the storm system (April 25), which was a prelude of things to come and a buildup that would ignite on the afternoon of April 27th

I give kudos to you guys for doing this.

[royaleevangeline]

What happened on April 27th was just downright terrifying, especially for the poor people in Alabama! It was truly just a tragic and sad set of circumstances where many people were not warned about the tornadoes that afternoon, due to the widespread power outages from that early morning line of storms.

[GoatedAtNFS]

the sad part of living in the south is dealing with stuff like this then bracing yourself every year when it’s “that time of the year again.”

[Jwalkiin]

Still remember this day vividly. I was in Tuscaloosa the literal day before, hanging out with friends on the University of Alabama campus. Went home that night, but thought about staying in Ttown. But something told me to go home. I'm glad I listened. I think i'll always remember this day for the rest of my life.

[micahfischbach]

From a resident of Birmingham Alabama this is a day il never forget. It forged the drive for studying these beautiful monsters

[rizzorizzo]

Man I’ll never forget this outbreak. For like 3 days I was never more than 300 feet from a storm shelter and it seemed like every 2 hours for a 24 hour period we were running for cover. There were EF5s that hit all around us but we were spared until finally getting hit a couple years later in late April.

[questionitall]

These super outbreaks are really scary. The April 3rd 1974 Super outbreak saw 7 F5s in 24 hours. Thankfully, that has never happened before (since records began anyway) or since. Great vid, cheers.

[peachxtaehyung]

I'm sad that James still beats himself up about the loss of life this day! He did everything he could to save as many lives as possible!! Also amazing video!!! I'm now subbing

[andrewnash]

I remember living in a top story apartment in Birmingham during this outbreak. I watched the tornado on the news coming out of Tuscaloosa on its way to Bham. As I was watching my sister called me to come over to her house and get in the basement so I did. My family and I were fortunate not to have any injury or damage but it came very close. I worked closely with a man who had his home destroyed, basically just blown away. Thankfully he and his family were not seriously injured, but it took them so long to rebuild.

What a day that was.

[InterWebGuy]

Professionally done. This was so sad to watch, but it was not morbid. These outbreaks will happen again and everybody in this area of the country needs to stay aware and heed all weather alerts.

[rolltide]

Having lived through this in the Huntsville metro area one notable fact about this outbreak is my county, which is Madison, had a tornado warning in some part of the county for for over 5 hours straight. People often say about how different it feels prior to events like this and this day was no exception. The feeling in the air was indescribable. For me the most eerie part was seeing shingles and insulation from people’s houses falling out of the sky miles away from the tornadoes.

[johnshields]

Tornados are fascinating but scary at the same time.

[theunknownanomaly]

This day lives in my memory and still terrifies my family. On April 27th at ~12 o clock if I remember correctly, my family stood in our front door and looked, horrified, due west. There we saw what we thought we never would: a massive supercell destroying homes only 200 meters away. The houses two homes down were gone, the Walmart they were building also was damaged. The petrol station and dollar general on the corners of the intersection were both significantly damaged and needed rebuilding. We took cover in the bathroom as we hadn’t had our storm shelter built yet, and waited for what felt like hours. We ended up losing power for weeks.

[TheRealKazmir]

What is often forgotten is the sheer number of smaller tornoadoes that unpredictably popped up as the cells moved. I was a senior HS and remember being up all night as tornoado warnings continued periodically throughout the night as tons of tornadoes, mostly small and medium, touched down nearby

[plantys]

i was eight years old living in cullman alabama when this happened. walking through the wreckage with my family seeing the collapsed homes and businesses, and people crying on the street is something i’ll never forget. my apartment was spared thankfully. but i couldn’t sleep for weeks and i’m still terrified of severe weather to this day

[rainesbobo]

This was really good! The music and sounds you used helped to elevate the documentary and make it seem really scary like I am sure it was for the people who lived through this. Good job. Cannot wait to see what you do next