Mike Wilhelm's Alabama Weather Blog

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Bamawx.com

Photo by Michael E. Palmer, Tuscaloosa News Michael Harris carries an unconscious Whitney Crowder, 6, through the Bear Creek Trailer Park, 12/16/2000

Saturday morning December 16, 2000 was a pleasant and warmer than average mid-December morning in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. But to those paying attention to the weather, there was legitimate concern that conditions would not stay so pleasant. At 10 a.m., a Tornado Watch was issued for the area. And at 12:40 p.m., the National Weather Service in Birmingham issued a tornado warning for Tuscaloosa County. Fourteen minutes later, at 12:54 p.m., a tornado touched down in southwestern Tuscaloosa County, west of the Black Warrior River. It was on the ground for 18 miles and was responsible for 11 fatalities and 144 injuries, according to the Tuscaloosa County EMA. 

Birmingham Nexrad, 12/16/17 at 12:57 p.m., 3 minutes after tornado touched down.

NWS Birmingham path map of 12/16/2000 Tuscaloosa tornado

The photo at the top of this post, by Michael Palmer of the Tuscaloosa News, circulated across the world via the Associated Press.  The girl in the picture, Whitney Crowder, survived the tornado but she lost her father and baby brother to the tornado.  Katherine Lee, of the Tuscaloosa News wrote about the Crowders' story in a touching article at this link.  Whitney told the News that her memories of that day begin when she woke up in Children's Hospital and saw friends and family at her bedside. “My first-grade teacher was there. I remember walking around the hospital and seeing my sister Abby.“ Otherwise, she relies on videos, photos and other people’s versions of events.  More on the Crowders' story can be seen in the 2014 WVUA report which is embedded below.





ABC 33/40 Chief Meteorologist James Spann and his team, which included meteorologists Mark Prater and John Oldshue, did an excellent job providing coverage of this storm, and were awarded an Emmy. ABC 33/40 captured the tornado on a tower camera as it moved through the southern part of Tuscaloosa. James wrote later, "Our StormChaser van was heavily damaged in the storm; John Oldshue and his photographer had to rush in to a Hampton Inn to protect themselves as the tornado passed right over their location. The manager of the motel had all of the guests lined up in a hallway on the lowest floor, and nobody was injured there." Below is video of ABC 33/40 coverage.


The screen capture below is from WVUA Tuscaloosa coverage of the tornado.


This was the strongest tornado in Tuscaloosa in at least 50 years (since 1950) and it was the strongest December tornado in Alabama since at least 1950. It was the deadliest tornado in Alabama in 2000 and tied with a tornado in Georgia as the deadliest in the nation that year.  According to the National Weather Service Birmingham, "The tornado was spawned by a supercell thunderstorm that originated in Mississippi. This thunderstorm was responsible for additional tornado damage in St. Clair and Etowah counties...Tuscaloosa EMA reported 11 fatalities with this tornado along with 144 injuries. Nine of the fatalities occurred in mobile homes, one in a vehicle, and one in a commercial building converted to residential use. Six of those killed were females and five were males. Ages ranged from 16 months to 83 years old. The tornado was on the ground for a total of 18 miles, all within Tuscaloosa county. The tornado path was estimated to be 750 yards wide at it's maximum intensity." Complete storm survey information from the NWS Birmingham, including photos, can be found at this link. 

Interestingly, researchers from Texas Tech University's Wind Science and Engineering Center believed that the damage was more consistent with actual wind speeds in the F2 range because the Fujita Scale did not take into account the building types nor quality of construction.  This helped lead to the "Enhanced Fujita Scale' or EF scale, which became operational in the United States in 2007. 

Three other tornadoes occurred in Alabama on December 16, 2000.  One of those was responsible for the death of a woman in Geneva County who was thrown 75 yards from her mobile home.  A total of 24 tornadoes occurred that day across the Southeastern United States.

Mike Wilhelm
@Bamawx on Twitter
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Eighty three tornadoes were confirmed by National Weather Service offices in 17 states, mostly east of the Mississippi River between November 9 and November 11, 2002.  Most of the tornadoes occurred on the 10th in the Southeast and Ohio Valley regions.  Twelve of the tornadoes were responsible for 36 deaths.  Thirteen deaths occurred in Tennessee and 12 in Alabama. The most intense tornado was the F4 in Van Wert, Ohio which was responsible for four fatalities.  This ranks as the third largest November tornado outbreak.

Alabama Tornadoes:



Map of 11/10/02 Tornadoes in Alabama via NWS Birmingham

8:40 p.m. Infrared Satellite Image 11/10/02 during Saragossa F3, NWS Bmx 

The National Weather Service Birmingham has a page with storm surveys of 10 tornadoes in Alabama.  The most devastating tornadoes in Alabama were the Carbon Hill (F3) and Saragossa (F3) tornadoes.

Carbon Hill F3 Tornado
The Carbon Hill tornado was travelled 44.3 miles with a width of 1175 yards. According to the NWS Birmingham, "four deaths were reported with this tornado, three in the Rose Hill community area of Walker County and one near Arley in Winston County, with approximately 38 injuries associated with this tornado, 3 in Fayette County, 20 in Walker County, and 15 in Winston County."

The video below contains coverage from meteorologists in the Huntsville television market, even though the tornado was mostly south of the Huntsville market. All three stations, WHNT, WAAY, and WAFF were all following it closely.  As of this time the Weather Service Office in Huntsville was not issuing warnings. The NWS Birmingham still had warning responsibility for all of North Alabama.




The video below is coverage from an ABC 33/40 special on severe weather in 2005. In this video, the Carbon Hill tornado and Saragossa tornado from the "Veterans Day Outbreak" in Alabama are discussed. Reporters include James Spann, Pam Huff, Valorie Carter, Brian Peters, Ike Pigott, John Oldshue, Linda Mays, and Chris Tatum.



Saragossa F3 Tornado


This is coverage of the most deadly and longest track tornado in Alabama during the Veterans Day Outbreak, 11/10/2002. James Spann, Mark Prater, John Oldshue and J.B. Elliott covered this tornado which moved through Fayette, Walker, Winston and Cullman counties. This video included coverage from 8:30-9:09 p.m.



Finally, meteorologists Ben Smith and Dr. Tim Coleman of Channel 42 in Birmingham describe the F2 tornado that moved through Tuscaloosa and Jefferson counties.

From the NWS Birmingham: "The Abernant Tornado touched down in a wooded area west of County Road 99 around 10:22 pm. The tornado traveled east-northeast, damaging structures on Ridge Road before crossing into Jefferson County. The tornado entered Jefferson County at 10:29 pm, and damaged structures in the Johns and Sumter areas before damaging a manufacturing facility just southwest of VisionLand Theme Park. The tornado crossed Interstate 65 and US Highway 11 where additional houses and businesses were affected. The tornado ended at this point at 10:43 pm. This F2 tornado had a path length of 15.2 miles, 2.9 miles in Tuscaloosa County and 12.3 miles in Jefferson County. The path width was about 450 yards. Three injuries were reported in Tuscaloosa County.

George H.W. Bush was President of the United States. Power ballads such as "When I See You Smile" by Bad English were topping the charts. Jerome Walton of the Chicago Cubs won the NL Rookie of the Year Award. And, not surprisingly, there was severe weather in Alabama.


Severe thunderstorm approaching Highway 69 in Hale County, Alabama, 11/8/89

The morning of Wednesday November 8, 1989 an F1 tornado struck the northeast side of Dothan in Houston County, Alabama. During the afternoon of November 8, severe reports were confined to a few wind damage reports in West Alabama, but it happened to be a day I remember for a few reasons. My first "storm chasing" experiences were in the 1980s and most of them are not documented. This is not the first, but one of the first I was able to document on video. 



From NOAA Storm Data, November 1989

In these videos you will hear audio of the Birmingham NWS NOAA Weather Radio (with real human voices) and audio of James Spann, Scott Richards, and Janet Hall who were broadcasting the evening news on WBRC 6.  I was listening to them on 87.7 FM.  Channel 6 was the only station in the Birmingham market which had audio fall within the FM radio band. This disappeared when Channel 6 went digital in June 2009. 

Here are the videos:





Thanks for reading and watching!

Mike

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On July 26, 2010 I had the opportunity to attend my seventh (7th - you heard right) Paul McCartney concert. This one was at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. With me were my son Matthew and my dear friends from school days Rob and Johnny. The concert was amazing. You may be asking, "What does this have to do with weather?" Good question!  It turned out that while the four of us, along with thousands of other fans were waiting for the doors to open to the arena, a severe thunderstorm with intense lightning and what was later to be confirmed by the National Weather Service Nashville to be an EF1 tornado was in the area. Instead of chasing storms, we were being chased!


The image above shows what the sky looked like from Bridgestone arena. While standing in a sea of people waiting to get in, we could hear the thunder getting louder and closer. In what I considered a very questionable response, the arena refused to open the doors early, leaving fans exposed to the approaching severe weather.



Around this time, an EF1 tornado was in progress about 7 miles to our north. It was on the ground for about 1/2 mile and had winds in the 105-110 mile per hour range. According to the NWS Nashville:

Source: Florence Times-Daily, May 19, 1973

On Saturday May 19, 1973, the number one song in the U.S. was “You are the Sunshine of My Life” by Stevie Wonder.  If you went to the movies you probably saw “Paper Moon” starring Ryan O’Neal. If you were watching television “All in the Family”, “M*A*S*H”, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, and “Emergency” were popular on Saturday nights.  For residents of Fort Payne, Alabama, television was the furthest thing from their minds as they were recovering from an F4 tornado that struck between 6:45 and 7:00 p.m.

Two devastating tornadoes were responsible for 25 deaths and 227 injuries in Central Alabama in the predawn hours of May 5, 1933. 

The first was an F3 tornado which touched down at 12:20 a.m. and moved through Choctaw, Sumter, and Marengo counties, killing four and injuring 27 people along its 35 mile long path. Three of the fatalities occurred at Demopolis in Marengo County where 50 homes were destroyed. 

Unidentified Survivors of Helena Tornado, Photo: Army Air Corps

The second tornado touched down around 2:30 a.m. and moved through Bibb and Shelby counties along a 35 mile long path.  This tornado had damage consistent with an F4 rating and was responsible for 21 deaths and 200 injuries.  Hardest hit was the Shelby County town of Helena. There 14 were killed and 150 were injured.  Five were killed in Brent in Bibb County and one was killed in the Colemont community. 

May 1933, Helena, Alabama Tornado Damage Path, Army Air Corps

The photos above were taken by a pilot with the U.S. Army Air Corps and can be seen in the Helena Museum.  Most of the town of Helena was directly impacted by the tornado and the Helena Depot was one of the few buildings that survived.

The Shelby County Reporter had this to say about the disaster in Helena in its September 9, 1972 edition:

"Roaring out of the southwest at a little past three o'clock in the morning this deadly tornado killed 20 people and caused a vast amount of property damage and human misery. The tornado's having come at night made the visitation more terrifying. Most of the people were asleep in their beds or had been awakened just as their homes were being swept away. Many found themselves buried under the ruins of their homes and had to wait for relief to come. Torrents of rain poured down following the storm. Ambulances from Birmingham responded as promptly as possible, but fallen trees and debris hampered the work of relief."

Laura Brookhart wrote a very good artcle on the tornado in the September 10, 2012 edition of the Shelby County Reporter.  Here is an excerpt:

NWS Birmingham Alabama Tornado Database
Shelby County Reporter
AP Article
Helena Museum

On this date in 1984, 17 tornadoes occurred in Alabama. The most significant tornado occurred in Montgomery, where five people were killed and 37 injured in an F3 tornado which touched down just before rush hour on the Northern Bypass at 7:00 a.m.  Four of the fatalities were in automobiles and one in a mobile home.  According to the Alabama Tornado database from the NWS Birmingham:

"Damage was extensive along the entire path of the tornado. At least 20 homes were destroyed, 36 homes sustained major damage, 157 homes had minor damage, 9 mobile homes were destroyed, 8 businesses were destroyed, and numerous vehicles were destroyed."

The map below from TornadoHistoryProject.com shows the path of the Montgomery tornado.  

On this date in 2003 some of the largest hail ever recorded in Alabama fell, with numerous reports of hail as large as baseballs and softballs. Below is a list from the NOAA Storm Data publication for 2003. Significant damage to roofs and automobiles was reported. Boundary interactions led to storm initiation in a high CAPE (very unstable) environment.  Despite many rotation signatures on radar, no tornadoes were confirmed in this event. CAPE values were as high as 3500-4000 j/k.   

SPC Storm Reports 5/2/2003

Etowah: 1:53-2:44 p.m. Baseball 2.75"
"Penny to baseball size hail fell along the eastern Etowah County line. The hail fell from near Keener to near Ball Play. A few trees were also blown down near Ball Play. The hail may have been larger in rural areas because of larger reports in adjacent counties."

Cherokee County: 2:29-3:22 p.m. Softball 4.5"

Calhoun County: 2:54-3:25 p.m. Golf ball to Softball 4.5"

Marengo 3:35-3:54 p.m. Tennis ball 2"
"Hail up to 2 inches in diameter was reported in extreme northeast Marengo County near Faunsdale."

Hale County 3:45-4:26 p.m. Baseball 2.75"

Jefferson County 4:47-6:04 p.m. Baseball 2.75"
"A supercell thunderstorm moved across western Jefferson County and produced a large swath of hail. The largest hail reported was baseball size but the hail may have been larger in surrounding rural areas. Large hail was reported in Sayre, West Jefferson, Hoover, Hueytown, Bessemer, Birmingham and Palmerdale. A few locations observed hail covering the ground. Numerous reports of funnel clouds were also received."

Shelby County 5:40-7:00 p.m. Softball 4.5"
"National Weather Service Meteorologist Brian Peters said reports of hail measuring four inches in diameter, among the largest ever reported in Shelby County, came from Maylene. Additional reports of hail ranging in size from one to three inches in diameter was reported from Helena, Pelham and Alabaster. We had a lot of reports of golf-ball-size hail and judging from the reports of car damage there’s no reason not to believe that, Peters said. We also had a number of baseball-size hail reports. Hail is formed when a cold atmosphere prevents larger droplets of rain from falling out of thunderstorm clouds allowing them to freeze, Peters said."

Shelby County was under the following tornado warning at the time this storm occurred:

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
624 PM CDT FRI MAY 2 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
SHELBY COUNTY IN ALABAMA

* UNTIL 730 PM CDT

* AT 624 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 13 MILES NORTHWEST OF HELENA...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

* LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...ALABASTER... CALERA...CHELSEA...COLUMBIANA... HELENA...INVERNESS...LAKE PURDY...MONTEVALLO...OAK MOUNTAIN STATE PARK...PELHAM AND
WILSONVILLE. ANOTHER SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS NEAR PELHAM AND
INVERNESS MOVING EAST AROUND 30 MPH. VERY LARGE HAIL CAN BE
EXPECTED WITH EITHER OF THESE STORMS.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. IF YOU ARE IN ITS PATH...SEEK SHELTER NOW. STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS. 

NWS Huntsville / Bamaweather.com

Other areas receiving baseball sized hail in Alabama:

Lawrence County - Mount Hope
Colbert County - Colbert Heights
Franklin County - Russellville
Lauderdale - Petersville, Central Heights, Cloverdale

2.5" Hail (tennis ball) fell in:

Cullman County: Baileyton
Washington County: Chatom

Images from the NWS Huntsville:

NWS Huntsville

NWS Huntsville

Numerous other areas of the state received hail that met severe criteria (which was 3/4" at that time).  Those areas are too numerous to mention here.  There were also several severe wind reports. 

Sources:

NOAA Storm Data May 2003
NOAA Storm Events Database
Shelby County Reporter
Storm Prediction Center
NWS Birmingham
NWS Huntsville - Slide presentation by Matt Zika