WTVA - 4/27/2011 Super Tornado Outbreak -
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.ย. 2024
- WTVA's Coverage of the 2011 Super Outbreak as the EF5 Tornado developed and moved into Smithville, MS. Coverage also includes numerous supercell storms including an EF5 Tornado that moved through Hackleburg and Phil Campbell Alabama.
This was so terrifying.
Just started watching these videos and he did an amazing job alerting those affected by these storms, all things considered he had his hands full and did awesome at keeping people alerted as to what was happening!!!!
You should check out James spann as well! He did great too
I mean hindsight is foresight, but he really should not have been so focused on that minor storm west of the Smithville one, when the one approaching Smithville already was looking horrific even before the debris ball.
I think you did a great job here. You can't please everybody. On a day like that you can't afford not to touch on EVERY last storm. You kept your cool while keeping track of at least several dozen different things going on simultaneously, all the while passing along concise warnings. Kudos, good sir.
Heck yeah he did, this was his first friggin’ day on the job
After watching James Spann for yrs. no one else comes close..
James Spann is second to none. All other weather reporters don,t compare to him.
Certainly not Mike Morgan at KFOR in Oklahoma City!
Everyone did great that day
Gary England pioneered tornado prediction by Doppler radar.
To be fair, he did focus on the Smithville storm for quite a while when the hook was just SW of town (look around 2:50). The next radar image did not come in until the tornado was already past Smithville, with the pronounced debris ball.
How did it feel to publish this video one year after the event? I've been through 2 tornadoes, and it still feels like yesterday, and I went through the April 4th tornadoes in 1974 and 1984 in Stone Mountain, Georgia. We were the last state to have one of those F5 killers come through. I'll never forget it. I awoke at 5:35 A.M. on April 4th to the most terrifying sounds of that roar and explosive thunder. It sounded like large gun shots ringing out, because of the speed of those winds and the lightning that accompanied this storm. At 5:36, I woke my sister, mother and younger brother up, and we varely made it downstairs to the ground floor. We never made it to the basement. That's how close it was. Our house was damaged, and the house across the street and one over to the left of us was completely destroyed. The entire 4-person family was clinging to the toilets and plumbing. They all survived, but suffered serious injuries. Ten years later, to the day, almost 12 hours later, we got hit by a double-vortex F4 tornado at another house in Stone Mountain. We had damage to our house, and most of the duplexes down the street from us were completely demolished. We were fairly close to the electric substation with transformers which exploded and sent huge, blue streaks of electricity all the way from it about 200 yards to our driveway. The sound was horrific! The hail covered our yards down the entire street for a couple hours after the storm. We also had no power until the next day, which was very surprising, because we thought we'd be without power for several days. This tornado had a clearly defined eye, because it hit us twice, and the second time was much, much worse. I hope I never have to experience a tornado like that again.
Heather stubbs I was in the outbreak of 74. I'm terrified of tornadoes. I hate spring and I hate April because of this. I lived in Alabama then up in the north Central area. During this outbreak I was in Montgomery. We got nothing but I was literally paralyzed with fear.
I think stone mountain 1984 was a ef3 but chances it could been a 4
@@patricklaurojr7427it was a F2 when looking at records. I don't know about the double vortex F4 tho, no records show it
The 1994 tornado was a F2, but now I see what you mean. A F4 did hit Stone Mountain in 1992, the tornado ten years earlier was in 1982, not 1984.
With the limitations of the equipment in 2011, with the fact that you had only been there one month, and considering how many things were going on at once, this is good coverage. Watching this and then seeing 2021 coverage, the difference is remarkable.
Is the smithville tornado the strongest tornado ever documented? Would’ve loved to see what it’s winds were at its peak. Wouldn’t be surprised if it was closing in on 400mph
It was around 205 mph at its max. Strongest wind ever recorded on earth was a tornado in Oklahoma in 1999. 302 mph.
@@mohnjayer205 was an estimate. There is no doubt that Smithville had winds stronger than that. One of the most powerful and violent tornadoes to ever touch down.
400 mph? Not likely. However, It was easily near or above 300 mph. Look at what this thing did to an entire funeral home and how clean a lot of the damage this tornado produced was. That's about as violent as it gets.
@@dannyllerenatv8635 I was actually basing it off of “reports” that I can no longer find. Pulling a manhole cover and ring out of the ground. Removing pipes from the foundation of a home. Angrily ripping the anchors and bolts out of the foundation of a well built home. And I believe this one was debunked pulling fire hydrant and 5 feet of in ground pipe from the ground (that was debunked because they were doing road construction in that area). Either way I’m not an engineer or physicist so I couldn’t estimate exactly what the wind speed would need to be in order to cause that kind of damage in less than what 5 seconds. Core of the tornado less than 10 yards wide… moving at 60-70 mph, and for the damage that wasn’t debunked did that kind of damage.
We’ve seen 295 subvorts not cause this kind of damage, we’ve seen the strongest winds of the bridge creek tornado 301+- 15mph move slower and not do this kind of damage. Closet we’ve seen is Jarrell (controversial statement) a possibly low end f5 park over a subdivision and cause an insane amount of damage. So that’s why I say i wouldn’t be surprised if the wind wasn’t approaching close to 400… who knows maybe it’s just 320 plus. All I know moving that fast causing that much damage in such a short period of time those winds were higher than at least bridge creek that’s the floor.
I feel the same way about. Hackleburg and Philadelphia
@@dannyllerenatv8635 Its believed that its possible for tornadoes to reach supersonic speeds, but we dont have radar with the resolution to prove it.
My uncle Jon he in a wheelchair and his house did not get hit he was lucky 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
I live in smithville,so i was almost hit,it barely missed me but destroyed my town
And id assume you heard the tornado roar
@@colin7244 no actually, I more remember the silence of it all.
@@colin7244 but the crazy thing is, two years ago another tornado went through amory and missed my house by a mile, and yea it DEFINITELY had a roar to it
@@5stargaming193 that would actually be a year ago on march 24th, 2023. Also I find it strange that you didn’t gear the noise of the smithville tornado even though the roar could be heard clearly a mile away
@@colin7244 why are you interrogating me lol, I was like 6 when the smithville tornado happened. And yea the Amory one was a year ago I just got mixed up. Trust me I remember everything about that one
Today there was a tornado that hit my town but my family and friends are ok
Hey, Amory, i live there :P that day sucked, i cant even count how many times we heard the sirens go off. :/
that Smithville EF5 turned out to be one of the most violent tornadoes of that day, ranking only second to Hackleburg/Phil Campbell. It tossed an SUV into the water tower, removed homes from foundations, & had heavy ground scouring/debarking.
Bradley Jackson its true and i was in fulton at the time it hit the sky was like i never seen super green color !!when i went out side there was paper and stuff falling out of the sky
Tuscaloosa should've been an EF5, not "high end EF4". Trees were debarked and EF5 damage was found. What you're describing here in these other two, same thing happened in Tuscaloosa.
Brian Mears one of the most impressive tornado,not only on radar but video too.
One of the strongest ones of all time. Easily top 3. Tuscaloosa was just evil looking but this Smithville twister was just on another level.
Actually, though the most damaging was certainly the PC one, the Smithville one was indeed more intense though it only tracked 30 miles
You can see a second hook forming
I wasn't born by then
i was their in the smithville tornado iy was scary i was in the bathroom it was not safe in their my 10 year old was crying but not much hes ok
Pretty sure 6:00 to 7:00 was the tornado passing.
He did well, but with this much activity, this is just too much for one guy to do.
He had 2 other meteorologists with him that he talked down to about the debris signature that was clearly a debris signature. Jen nailed it.
9:05: Scary. The "debris ball" looks like a thunderstorm inside a thunderstorm! D:
Another scary thing is the sheer number of tornadoes and warnings shown in this video. I hope this never happens where I live!
When they say "debris ball", it means that the radar is bouncing off the shrapnel inside the tornado, and the reflectivity is very high. It's mostly associated with large wedge tornadoes.
So far, We've had a deadly tornado outbreak in January and we've had an EF-4 tornado go straight through Hattiesburg Mississippi and the University of Southern Mississippi. So, I think we are in for a bad year this year. 2011 was the worst but let me tell you 2013 get ready because I think we are in for a repeat of 2011 maybe even worse.
What happened on April 27 2011 is a generational event. It happens every 40yrs
@@peachxtaehyung yep. Wont get another April 27th until 2051 unless it happens alot earlier
@@extsyy exactly so people don't need to freak out and ask everyone "another April 27th 2011?!" Everytime there's a high risk or something lol
@@peachxtaehyung Palm Sunday Tornado outbreaks are also generational
5:36 Holy shit!
So many discrete cells it’s just unbelievable to this day to look back at that radar image. Sickening.
That’s what a torcon 10 radar looks like
2011 was the worst 2012 not bad 2013 we will find out
Wow if only you knew what would happen in 2013!
@@peachxtaehyung record breaking tornado
Correction: They couldn't decide if it was EF4 or EF5 so they settled with high end EF4, although I did notice a slab wasn't just swept clean, but thrown, for that reason the survey team likely missed it, but eh.
Among other reasons, a car was picked up and thrown high enough to dent the top part of a water tower in Smithville, killing the person inside, hence EF5.
This was one of the most powerful tornadoes in history. If anything it was high end EF5.
@@k5elevencinc0Close to being an EF6
@@wxredmattWith an EF5 tornado, the only place of safety is underground. Most, if not all, above ground shelters will be damaged or destroyed. Concrete and steel may not stand a chance with an EF5 tornado.
the tornado hit my house it wasent their when we got there from work
I don't think this guy did a very good job. I understand there was a huge outbreak but he failed to focus on key tornadic storms and the cities they were affecting. Hell the storm was out of Smithville by the time he got back to it.
Because he was trying to give everyone warning to save them. Give him a break this was his first day at this job
F5 tornado that hit Smithville and Matt couldn't recognize the significance. He should have been heavily tracking that cell.
All the while they are talking about possible tornados, there is a F5 getting ready to destroy Smithville, killing 23 people!!! They started getting serious about the tornado, after it had already passed through the town! I know they were doing the best they could, but if I were a weather person, I would concentrate what I knew was happening, not what was possible, yet. I know hind sight is 20/20, but they had a HUGE debris ball!
I appreciate your perspective, but what you might not realize is that tornado lifted for a bit prior to setting back down as it basically entered the southwest city limit of Smithville. As we indicated, it was clearly a bad storm, One of two EF5’s that would be on the ground at the same time, but with the benefit of hindsight, coverage becomes obvious.
@@wxredmatt Yes Matt, hindsight is 20/20. as this was a day that no one expected. Forcasted to happen days in advance, but still unbelieveable. The Smithville tornado went from Genesis to a killer EF-5 in less than 30 seconds. Arguably the strongest of the entire outbreak. Just mind blowing!! Thanks for the Great job you guys did, and continue to do. I wish I had worded my comment above a little differently, as I was not really trying to place personal blame on anyone. Everyone that day was doing the absolute best they could. That day was truly a once in a lifetime event, and I don't know if anyone can ever truly prepair for something like that. Again, thanks for all you do Matt. That day was going to happen just as it did, no matter what anyone could have said or done.
But a week in advance the national weather service, and the highest meteorologists in the land at the Storm prediction center were saying April 26/27 was looking bad. Personal accountability has to factor in this as well! This blaming has gotta stop. Almost the same as blaming refs for 1 bad call while ignoring the other 99 plays where greater effort could have been shown to affect the outcome!
No PM service...
??
@@peachxtaehyung He's referring to church. Oh, and Tupelo got HAMMERED directly.
@@friesareyummy ah ok thank you for explaining... And are you talking about tonight? If so then yeah I saw that. I'm praying for everyone affected!
This guy didn't do a good job at all warning folks. Yes it was a huge outbreak and I can understand the struggle of trying to get people warned on each storm, but he didn't do a very good job at giving those warnings, and he also spent too much time on the less dangerous storms. Also he's too concerned about running the equipment. Do what James Spann does. Buy a roller and a laptop and actually go in front of the green screen. It's been shown eye contact makes people take the warning more seriously. James says he can control everything he needs on the laptop he uses just so he makes sure he is on the green screening making eye contact to the camera.
I appreciate your feedback. At the time I had been in MS less than one month and overhauled the computer system in place. I couldn't agree more that meteorologists need to be in front of the wall running their own radar. We did that at my previous station, and eventually at WTVA, but didn't have time to get it implemented with the right equipment prior to this particular outbreak. Any meteorologist that's done this before will admit, hindsight is 20/20! Thanks for watching!
Actually Matt I want to apologize because I should have never said that. I forgot all about me saying that to be honest. I am only 19, not in college yet but hope to be soon and honestly I would have done no better, probably worse. And I have seen other videos of you and you have greatly improved 1000 times. So I sincerely apologize I was being a know it all then and the more I learn that this is not an easy job but I'm willing to sacrifice everything to become a meteorologist.
No worries! Your comments were valid. If someone saw only this video, and chose the model themselves after only this video, they would be making a mistake. One of the most important things a TV meteorologist can do is humanize a scary situation and that's difficult to do if you can't make eye contact. Good luck following your passion… It can be a very rewarding career!
Matt Laubhan I think you did an excellent job. You have a very unique way of broadcasting. I'm watching after the fact of course, but I am impressed.
Eric Summey do you know the resources available to him? I enjoyed it. I liked to feel like I had a behind the scenes view.
Are you a Chrstain cuss i am :3 but any 2013 we will find out but 2012 was not bad at all :)
Whats a chrstain?
Wow. They absolutely missed it.... Missed the mark on their jobs that day.
Did you see how many freaking storms they had that day they didn't miss a damn thing and you know.
@@rolandmiller5456 lol ok
@@rolandmiller5456 rewatched it. They completely missed an F5 going through a city and then started talking about how people need to treat this as if a tornado is on the ground.
Just horrific and people died because of this.
@@charlesgrove9894not the case at all. About 3 minutes before it hit and saying to take cover. Those people passed away from the force of an EF5 tornado. They didn't die because of WTVA. It's intellectually dishonest of you to insinuate that. They were also tracking multiple storms at once.
How many times are you going to tell somebody on the hardest day of their career, that he did poorly? He covered numerous tornadoes at a time without the benefit of hindsight that you have. This is a PTSD type of event for so many folks, including on-air meteorologists.
I bet on D-Day in Normandy you'd be the guy telling the first wave of guys storming the beach that they ruined their uniform... as they bleed out from 6 gunshot wounds. It's not helpful, and there's no way to do the job "perfectly" on a day like 4/27.
Matt Laubhan was professional, communicated clearly, and did the best he could given the incredible volume of information flowing at him that day. Talking nonstop while posting to social media, explaining the radar picture, reading NWS info, hearing from your director in the control room, your wife texting you, and field reporters counting on you to give them direction.
I'd suggest NOAA Weather Radio if you don't care for what you view on TV.