Reoccurring Nightmares - The 1998 Birmingham F5 Tornado

Today we look at one of many violent tornadoes to hit Birmingham, Alabama prior to April 27, 2011.

Sources and further reading:

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Reoccurring Nightmares - The 1998 Birmingham F5 Tornado

[blazernitrox]

There's something strangely calming about hearing James Spann's coverage, even on an event that happened almost 25 years ago.

[denisek]

When this tornado occurred, I was living in a Tuscaloosa apartment, and remember James Spann warning how dire anyone’s chances of living if hit while above-ground. Spann, an exceptional meteorologist, was right. One of my husband’s employees was a volunteer firefighter/EMT for Oak Grove. He was tasked with recovery efforts, which he described as ‘gruesome.’ My son, who was born in Northport a year later, ironically is now a broadcast meteorologist himself. His inspiration….James Spann.

[Achillezbak]

Born and raised in rock creek. We were the only house left standing in our neighborhood. Saw things I'll never forget that evening. I'll never forget James Spann telling tonget into our safe area immediately. We were all crying and scared and my dad was on the front porch wanting to see it without any fear. I remember how quickly he changed when he said a cloud was blocking the lightning and realized that it was a tornado. He said it looked like a wall of wind you couldn't see past. He grabbed us all at the same time and threw us down the stairs into the basement.

[ChefTBo]

The ball in the "fishtank" analogy is probably the best explanation I've seen of the concept

[kierevil]

It’s insane that James Spann covered this horrific tornado and 13 years later would cover another horrific tornado that went through Tuscaloosa and Birmingham. James Spann truely is one of, if not the best, meteorologists of all time. He not only does his job amazingly, but he says it straight, no sugar coating required.

I aspire to be this man when I eventually become a meteorologist myself.

[AlabamaTrumpeter]

I was 8 when this outbreak happened, I'll never forget it. I grew up an hour northwest of Birmingham. It happened on a Wednesday, and my church took a group of people to Oak Grove high school to help clean up on Saturday. I remember hearing that one of the goalposts from the football field was found stuck upside-down in the ground a couple hundred yards away from where it had been. It was not quite at F5 intensity when it hit the school, but it was a direct impact. It's a miracle that nobody inside the school was killed.

[joshiedtv]

This was an absolutely horrible day for us. I grew up with Matthew Seale’s son that was mentioned, Nathan, and it was the first time I experienced losing a friend. Absolutely awful.

[XxCrystalPhoenix]

I lived through this. I'm about 80% sure the house approximately mid-frame at 10:03 is my childhood home. The tornado skipped our house but took out (essentially) the rest of the neighborhood. Fortunately, our neighbors on either side weren't home at the time.

James Spann visited our school the following year and spoke on tornado safety. I distinctly remember him demonstrating super cells with a hula hoop like you did.

Such an incredible video; thank you tremendously for making this.

[CodeEthos]

I remember this was "The Big One" before April 27th and I always was fascinated by the set up on that day. My father who's a Lt. for a fire department remembers watching it go by as he saw the power flashes as it chewed Oak Grove to shreds.

I always heard crazy stories that this monster did, from angels protecting the people in a church near Cottondale to more horrifying ones where people were impaled in trees. This F5 to me still beats April 27th by a lot. It truly was Hell on that night.

[Adrian-zdcs]

Life long Birmingham Alabama resident here 👍💕
I graduated highschool from Mortimer Jordan in 2001. A week after this storm hit Oak Grove we were playing Oak Grove at our home softball field and the weather turned bad, with the sirens going off. Those poor girls/fans started crying in a panic.

[wizarddragon]

I was one of the survivors in Edgewater. I made a decision that saved my life. I lived in a small home and knew this storm was going to be a monster so I decided to ride the storm out in a drainage ditch under the road. It was an insane moment in my life and my house was completely gone with only the foundation left standing. Btw, James Spann is the goat.

[crruptedhusky]

babe wake up, new weatherbox video just dropped

[RileyCBlackwell]

This tornado ripped through my hometown of Sylvan Springs just east of Oak Grove shortly after wiping out the high school. I was born later that year and had always been interested in weather after hearing about April 8. Then April 27, 2011 occurred and I knew from then that I wanted to be a meteorologist, highly inspired by James Spann. I am also blessed enough to say I now work with James at ABC 33/40 as the weekend meteorologist so it is definitely a full circle moment!

[peytdav]

Steve, you should do an interview with James Spann. Would be pretty neat to see his insights on meteorology and how far tornado prediction has come over the decades.

[Pensfan]

98 was so insane that this monster gets forgotten. Between downtown Nashville's F3 that spring and yes, even Pittsburgh being hit with an F1 in the summer. Truly crazy year for tornadoes.

[BamaDega]

I was in Rock Creek, Al when that monster hit our church. I've never been so frightened and the aftermath was unbelievable. It was my first time to take out my parents new 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee. After climbing over rubble, I found it sitting without much damage. I've never seen that much debris piled, or house after house with only front steps leftover. I can still hear my fellow church members screaming to this day. So loud, the wind distorted their voices.

[caseymckinney]

Hey weatherbox, just wanted to say thank you for inspiring me to continue my education in meteorology. I currently just got accepted into the University of Louisville for geographical Meteorology.
Thank you for your content, it is super interesting and informative. Keep up the good work.

[Peter-enbc]

Awesome video! I grew up in Tuscaloosa and was 10 when this tornado happened, I remember this night really well. It was a Wednesday night and we were at church, the sirens were going off so we had to rush home and watched James Spann’s coverages. A few days after we drove up to Oak Grove to see the damage and all that was left of homes were the foundation and all the trees had been stripped of bark. I’ll never forget that. Also, thanks for briefly touching on the 12/16/00 F4 in Tuscaloosa, that tornado missed our house by .25 miles, that’s the most scared I’ve ever been.

[roundsrapid]

Many cities have similar tornadoes every few decades. Birmingham is probably the biggest example outside of OKC. Nashville also had eerily similar tornadoes in 1933, 1998, and 2020.

[SixTenVisuals]

What I've noticed over time is that twisters stay out of Jones Valley, which is the densely packed central Bham. The twisters seem to trek outside the rail line that borders Ensley and Pratt City on the north and Red Mtn on the south.