EF3 Tornado — Tuscaloosa, Alabama

2011-04-27 · near Coaling, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Event narrative

This tornado developed along a Quasi-Linear Convective System in southeast Tuscaloosa County, near Coaling and moved northeastward for approximately 18 miles. It crossed into Jefferson County between Interstate 20 and Bucksville, then continued for nearly 2 miles into Jefferson County. The tornado touched down in the southwestern extent of Coaling, north of CR 14, along Staghorne Dr where it damaged many trees. The tornado quickly strengthened as it moved through Coaling to an EF3 rating with winds of 155 mph, remaining south of US Hwy 11. At least a dozen homes sustained damage. Several homes were completely destroyed. The tornado weakened as it moved east of Coaling and crossed US Hwy 11. The tornado moved across the Mercedes Plant where it caused minor roof damage to one building, knocked down several light poles along Interstate 20 near the plant, and snapped numerous trees. This damage was consistent with an EF1 rating and winds of 100 mph. The tornado continued to cause tree damage as it moved northeast and approached the Jefferson County line.

Wider weather episode

A powerful storm system crossed the Southeast United States on Wednesday, April 27, 2011, resulting in a large and deadly tornado outbreak. This epic event broke the record for number of tornadoes in a day for the state of Alabama, becoming the most significant tornado outbreak in the state's history.

Central Alabama had two rounds of severe weather that day. During the early morning hours, a Quasi-Linear Convective System quickly moved across the northern half of the National Weather Service, Birmingham county warning area. Straight line winds of 90 mph (78kts) or greater and 11 tornadoes lead to widespread damage and power outages. During the afternoon, long-lived supercell thunderstorms produced long-track, strong and violent tornadoes. Destruction and loss of life across many towns and communities was devastating.

The hardest hit areas included Shottsville and Hackleburg, both in Marion County, where winds of 160 mph and 210 mph respectively, caused unimagineable damage. Cordova, in Walker County, was hit twice; by a tornado along the Quasi-Linear Convective System during the early morning hours and again in the afternoon by a long-track EF4 tornado. A long track tornado moved across the city of Tuscaloosa and the western suburbs of Birmingham, resulting in the complete destruction of whole neighborhoods and numerous injuries and fatalities in those heavily populated areas. The same parent supercell produced another violent tornado in east Central Alabama as it tracked across St. Clair and Calhoun Counties, resulting in additional fatalities and incredible damage to a number of neighborhoods. Another violent EF4 tornado tracked across portions of Elmore and Tallapoosa Counties, including Lake Martin, destroying numerous homes and a large section of a mobile home park.

Most of the violent tornadoes from this day were captured on video by a number of people, including storm spotters and chasers, as well as numerous television news crews and remotely controlled web-enabled video cameras. This allowed unprecedented coverage and viewing of this historic event in real time from people worldwide.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.1630, -87.3716)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 311603. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.