EF4 Tornado — Jefferson, Alabama

2011-04-27 · near Weller, Jefferson, Alabama

Event narrative

This tornado initially touched down in rural northern Greene County and moved northeast through southern Tuscaloosa and western Jefferson Counties. The tornado caused devastating damage consistent with a violent EF4 rating to portions of the city of Tuscaloosa and western suburbs of Birmingham and then lifted northeast of downtown Birmingham. The tornado entered western Jefferson County 5.5 miles west of North Johns. The tornado continued to cause significant tree damage as it crossed Sealy Ann Mountain Rd and CR 23. As the tornado crossed Valley Creek and the far northern portion of Virginia, several homes sustained minor damage. The tornado strengthened to a violent EF4 rating with winds of 190 mph as it approached Concord. Several retail stores were destroyed along CR 46 and only piles of debris were left on their foundations. Several cinder block homes were completely destroyed with debris swept away. In addition, numerous other homes in the area were destroyed with only a few interior walls left standing. At least five fatalities occurred in Concord. The violent tornado continued northeastward toward Pleasant Grove, where extensive damage occurred across western and northern parts of town. Numerous homes were destroyed and foundations swept clean of debris. Several vehicles were picked up and tossed 15 yds. At least 11 fatalities occurred in Pleasant Grove. The tornado quickly moved into McDonald Chapel, near the intersection of CR 80 and Vicksburg St, killing one person. The tornado weakened to an EF2 with winds of 125 mph, but still damaged many homes and destroyed several others. The tornado moved through the Smithfield Estates area where it caused significant damage along Cherry Ave between Daniel Payne Dr and US Hwy 78 and resulted in one fatality. Numerous homes and a 2-story apartment complex sustained significant damage, consistent with an EF2 rating. As the tornado moved northeast, it crossed Interstate 65 near mile marker 266 and into the city of Fultondale. The path width increased to around 1.5 miles. Hundreds of trees were downed along the interstate and several light poles were folded over. Several buildings along US Hwy 31 sustained significant roof and structural damage. The tornado continued northeast where it crossed CR 124, and lifted just west of AL Hwy 79, 4 miles north of Tarrant.

This tornado was produced by a supercell thunderstorm that began in Newton county Mississippi at 13:54 pm CST, finally dissipating in Macon county, North Carolina at approximately 21:18 pm CST. This supercell spawned several strong to violent tornadoes along its long path, including another violent EF4 tornado that crossed portions of east Central Alabama.

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 → (33.3512, -87.1975)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 314663. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.