Reoccurring Nightmares - The 1998 Birmingham F5 Tornado
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- 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
There's something strangely calming about hearing James Spann's coverage, even on an event that happened almost 25 years ago.
He is a master at his craft
Ikr? Sometimes I just listen to his coverage of outbreaks
@@beezlebub3955 I thought i was the only one
@@DRLD224 haha nope! I love it!
You spann fans are weird AF. I find him repulsive
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.
Meteorologists save lives!
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.
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.
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.
He's lucky the lightning hit where it did so he could realize that. It may have saved his life.
That would be the only reason I would want somebody to throw me down the stairs. You are so blessed.
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.
congrats, great job
Congrats Casey! You won't regret it, and if you do change your mind there are many other paths you can take that have similar prereqs
Warmest wishes, Casey. Good luck in your educational pursuits. Congratulations.
If you live and breathe weather, college will be a breeze. My son is a meteorologist, and absolutely loves his job. Wishing you lots of success!
Congrats, Casey! Warmest wishes and best of luck to you!
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.
Then again, Pittsburgh is a tornado magnet in Pennsylvania (not as much as say, Oklahoma City but it still is) and gets tornadoes every 5-10 years-ish.
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.
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.
Thanks for sharing Ryan! Glad you made it out of the 2000 tornado okay
Our house was sideswiped by the December 2000 tornado missing the house by 100-150 yards. Still received blown down fences, tumbled dog house, broken porch window, some damage to my late Mothers car.
I was away @ Army Reserve drill in Hoover, drove up to Hoover early that morning in very heavy rain. Our PT test was cancelled because of it, & when I learned of the storm, called home. Couldn’t get through to home but to a backyard neighbor whose husband was my CGSC Instructor, she told me everything was ok. Figuring it would be next to impossible to get through & having to turn around to go back to drill, I didn’t come home.
Mom had returned home from shopping & was watching Spann on the TV when she turned to take shelter. @ that instant, the tornado hit; but she was uninjured.
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!
I agree with what you said about a tornado nailing a a large gathering of people, I'm always worried about that happening to a music festival which would be worst case scenario, a field full of anywhere between 10k-100k people whose only shelter is gonna be their tents/vehicles anywhere closeby (some venues may have small buildings or something like that scattered around the grounds but certainly not anything substantial or large enough for everyone) I can't imagine what the scene would look like and hope it never does end up occuring
I trust James Spann with my entire life, his voice comforts me through every tornado season 🥰
i've never been so early to an upload. how terrifying!!! alabama has by far the most violent tornadoes ive ever seen.
I was too young to remember this tornado, but I lived in Huntsville, AL during the April 27 tornado outbreak and I would love to see you do a video about it! Love that you're spreading awareness to this. Folks in Alabama don't have a healthy fear of the weather. Keep up the great work!
Love when Weatherbox posts. I stop what I'm doing and watch it through.
Thank you!
Great video. I'm a meteorologist and was living in Nashville during the 2020 central TN tornadoes. I'd love to see those covered in a future video.
Man that tornado destroyed the Soda Parlor... I loved that place. Thanks for stopping by!
@@weatherboxstudios Destroyed one of the Burger Republics too! I could see the power flashes from my apartment (I lived in a highrise in the Gulch just on the other side of downtown).
One unique aspect of the tornado: This is only a handful of F5/EF5 to occur at night. For the most part, statistics show that if a violent tornado occurs at night, they are rated F4/EF4. The only other nocturnal F5/EF5's I can think of are Greensburg 2007, Barnaveld 1984, both Tanner events/Guin 1974, Lubbock 1970, Blackwell 1955, Udall 1955, and Flint 1953. Ruskin Heights 1957 touched down in the daytime and dissipated after dark.
just got off a stressful day at work so this is absolutely perfect to unwind to :D thanks for all the hard work making content, seriously this is like the best part of my day so far lol
Clifford!
Your videos are genius. Expertise enough for advanced meteorologists, but explained in a way that normal folks can understand.
Thank you! It's a really hard line to straddle but I'm trying my best
@@weatherboxstudios I’m no meteorologist but I know enough to get by. Since I was 5 years old atmospheric science and meteorology captivated me. I was too chickenshit to study it in school or become a meteorologist but that was always my childhood dream job. Keep it up man
You are a fantastic science communicator. That ball and tub of water explanation was so intuitive.
Love the haircut, it looks slick! Thanks for the video, great stuff as always
I work in the Birmingham/Tuscaloosa market as an on-air meteorologist. I love to watch your videos. It was a little weird to see my boss used as a clip at 1:19 LOL
Oh nice! I've seen some clips of WVUA coverage, you guys do a great job. Thanks for stopping by Ryan!
@@weatherboxstudios Richard Scott is one of the best! His coverage is pretty good if I say so myself!
I was 8 and I lived in north Birmingham with my grandma when this occurred. I remember that the clouds were dark and ominous all afternoon. That evening we watched in horror as the tornado destroyed the local neighborhoods.
My grandma realized that we would soon be in the path of the storm. It was terrifying to know that an EF4 was only a mile and a half away and barreling towards us. Grandma put my 5 year old brother and I in a closet just as the power went out. We sat in the dark and listened to a battery radio. I remember hearing the wind and rain howling outside and a constant distant thunder. We were all scared, there was nothing we could do but wait and pray. Then it just dissipated. It was over in the blink of an eye and we were spared.
I don’t know if I would be here today if that tornado had kept on its path but I am thankful it didn’t. We were lucky but others were not. My heart goes out to those killed on that day. It’s a date I’ll never forget.
I remember that day. I had moved back home to Birmingham after 20 years of living in Michigan. My apartment was in Bessemer -4 miles east of Oak Grove and 4 miles west of Alabaster (suburbs of B'ham) where two of the tornadoes went that night. The f5 went thru Oak Grove and an f3 went thru Alabaster. I was terrified. There were no storm shelters and no basements in my apartment complex. it was also Good Friday.
Outstanding sweater. And thank you for the content.
Thanks Jay! Thrift store find
14:40 That statement aged well, cause I can tell you Easter 2020 I survived the EF3 tornado that hit Chattanooga, TN that night, and we're right on the northeast edge of Dixie Ally. Talk about a punch in the face that night was. Keep up the good work
Weatherbox, I always learn so much about weather conditions every time I watch your videos. Thank you for not only explaining the conditions that cause these tornadoes but also explaining them in layman’s terms!
Thanks Nic!
Stuff like this makes me worried for my parents. They're deaf and most news stations don't do captions even during emergency situations. Especially in rural areas like where I live.
I remember this night. We lived in Pinson at the time but moved to Concord a few years afterwards. You could still still the damage from Oak Grove years later- driveways with no house, steps to nowhere, etc. Ironically, Concord was hit by an EF4 on April 27th. Some areas seem more prone than others and get hit several times over the years.
Is this you on the Synth? Some of these intros are amazing dude
Remember this storm very well. Oak Grove and the western end of the county got hit really hard. The April 27 2011 tornado followed a similar path as well.
Thanks for all the work you do into explaining the weather setup the leads to these extreme weather events. Your videos are by far the best produced, education packed, and most interesting out there. Have a happy Thanksgiving from this Canadian!
Thanks Joshua!
Your videos are the best man, you have that perfect combination of info, animation and the perfect voice/vernacular, I always get excited and look forward to a long future of your content
Thanks! Glad you enjoy
I don’t remember this outbreak, but I lived in Roebuck which is east Birmingham. It’s scary how close it was and how I wasn’t weather aware that day.
Such amazing production 😍
I bet this monster was similar looking to the 4/27 Tuscaloosa EF4. Nothing more panic inducing than a nighttime tornado. Tuscaloosa/Birmingham seems to be the "Moore" of Dixie Alley with the number of violent tornadoes endured.
Happy Thanksgiving bud... thanks for the videos
You too Jim!
I don't know if you've already covered it, but the '65 Palm Sunday outbreak with the twins in Indiana, would be a great one to do.
I’ve missed you and your videos so much! Watched thru them ALL so I was fiending for more of this premium content. Thank you ❤
Did a double take when I heard a familiar team name mentioned, one of my first jobs was working at the Mudcats stadium. I remember one evening watching a shelf cloud approach the stadium from across the highway, with both the general and assistant managers staring at the cloud with radios at the ready. Most of the fans had already come down from the stands, and were milling around the covered part of the concourse or ducking into the restrooms for cover. It passed over with no funnel thankfully.
I will never forget the 98 , 2011 , storm I have lived in the area my whole life , the 98 storm for me was particularly more frightening because the home I was living in and had just moved from a week earlier was totally demolished, but both storms will always be remembered
I grew up across the street from the original Oak Grove School. My parents lost everything in that tornado, I was just 9 months old. I almost lost my dad because instead of being in the basement in our rental house next door he was in our home in the master bedroom. He told them in interviews shortly afterwards that the only thing he could do was put a pillow over his head and slide under his and momma's waterbed. They've both past away now and I watch his coverage on the anniversary every year just to hear my dad's voice and to see my momma standing behind him as he speaks. I don't remember it obviously but I'll never forget their stories.
You should look at the Plainfield, IL tornado. Only recorded F5 in August.
OGHS student here class of 2000. Life changed forever that night.
I was in Bosnia deployed when my mom called to tell me about this tornado. She lived in Montgomery, Alabama. R.I.P. to those who lost loved ones.
I didn't even know about this tornado Thank you for the video.
I was born during this storm. Fittingly enough, I’ve had a morbid fear of storms, and suffer from panic attacks when it gets too windy.
Can I just say I love the music at the beginning of all your videos?
You should make a video about the 1998 Kissimmee tornado outbreak, I'd love to hear your take on it
I lived in that area my whole life. I now live with storm anxiety so bad. I’m in my 30s now and even a hard rain now terrifies me. I lived in mulga like a mile from edgewater. We had a basement we had to run outside around the house. I remember the lightning that night was so bad we couldn’t run to the basement. We had to wait till the very last moment to run. To this day I’ve never seen lightning as continuous as that. I remember once we got into the basement the door flung open and my dad trying to get the door to shut again. Somehow there was a mattress down there and we laid it on top of us.
But that lightning is one thing i will never ever forget and I wasn’t but 7-8 maybe. I remember my parents even talking about maybe we should just risk being struck by lightning. Maybe we can run in between the strikes. But it had got so bad we couldn’t.
Your videos are so interesting
Great work Weatherbox! I appreciate your insight on tornadoes.
James Spann is a Legend here in The Birmingham area. We Listen to no one else. He was the only one in 1993 to predict the Blizzard that we had. Thunder snow and more than 12 inches of snow in ALABAMA !
That is the bad thing about Bham - we get them so often after dark. And the hills make it where you really can't see it even in daylight.
That's a great point!
@@weatherboxstudios I live here. I'm familiar with the paths storms usually take, and the hours they can get bad. In March and April it usually doesn't get warm enough for tornadoes till evening. April 2011 was very unusual. My neighborhood got hit by the morning round. I thought was way too cold for a second round that day. Boy was I wrong!
nice. good stuff.
0:57 OMG that's weird. My grandpa (Dan Atkinson) was a meteorologist on TWC during the 90s, and earlier today I decided to watch old uploads from people on youtube of clips with him in it, and I recognized this map! This particular version of the map was expanded a bit, and presented by someone else. But like 20 minutes earlier my grandpa discussed the same severe weather watch scenario
Also nice Ben Folds shirt 😎
When April 27 happened, I remember looking up at the sky and seeing sheet metal and shingles delicately floating in the clouds above. A 1990s picture of a woman and her dog fell in my front yard. I wasn't particularly close to any tornado track, but later that night an EF-5 decimated a town not far away. 38 or so died.
I would love for you to talk about the TWO EF5 tornadoes that have hit Moore, OK.
The 2011 El Reno, OK ( 2 1/2 miles wide) and the May 3, 1999 tornado (I’ve heard it was the fastest wind speed over land ever recorded.)
Can we get a video on the 1997 Central Texas outbreak? The Jarrell tornado is truly the stuff of nightmares.
Currently watching this during the Dec. 14 tornado outbreak.
I watched this outbreak unfold. It was pretty terrifying, and I was nowhere near the area.
Thanks for using the fish tank and ball to explain the energy release. I never understood that part formation before.
Incredible video, but I have a slightly off topic question. What mic do you use for these videos? I've been trying to find a good mic and haven't been successful
So the transmitter/receiver is the saramonic Blink 500, but the lav mic is unbranded and works fine with it. Idk if I would consider it good, but it's adequate for my purposes
@@weatherboxstudios I've been trying to write documentaries/videos on tornadoes that are 100+ years old in some cases. I just need the recording and editing for it.
I lived in bush hills 5 miles east of Pratt City the night the F5 tore through Jefferson County. I was 12 ..
It one of the scariest things i ever experienced in history that was until the EF4 that tore through Downtown Birmingham on April 27 2011
Birmingham is my home town. I cannot forget that day.
The 1977 Summerfield (Birmingham) storm, Dr. Ted Fujita considered making the storm an F6. Same system was responsible for the downing of Southern Airways Flight 242 in New Hope, GA.
I was living in Tuscaloosa & was heading out to watch a UA baseball game, but never made it out of the neighborhood when the tornado warning for Tuscaloosa County dropped; I just turned around & went back home. Both teams along w/those attending the game took refuge in the basement of Coleman Coliseum next door to the bb diamond.
The next year however would host probally the most infamous tornado of the 1990’s besides maybe Jarrel a tornado so infamous it broke records, I’m talking of course about May 3rd 1999 the first ever billion dollar F5
That ticking time bomb would be 10 years later in Atlanta at the Georgia Dome during the SEC Basketball tournament when Mikhail Riley for Bama, hit a shot, forcing overtime that saved many, many lives.
My area in central Indiana was hit with a tornado not nearly as strong but it was about 5ish miles north of me. Destroyed some factories that were being built near I65. They’re still cleaning them up.
2:13 Teared up a bit. We'll miss you Conrail.
I will never forget this being from Birmingham. I was away in Nashville working out and my friend who’s also from Birmingham saw 3 black crows flying overhead and she said “oh ooo you know what that means? Somebody is about to die?” She said it jokingly of course
This day maybe a few hours after she said that, the tornado hit her home and killed 6 of her family members
This was just the year before the May,3 1999 Moore,OK Tornado! I also was in 1st Grade during the both 1997 & 1998 school year, and the 1998 Master's Week. Before I gone to the 2nd Grade during the 1998 & 1999 School Year. It also had hit Georgia pretty good too!
My new favorite channel!
i’d love to see a mini analysis of the 2004 Campbelltown PA tornado. it was particularly strong, especially for the midstate. estimated winds were between 175-200 easily placing it modern ef4
Oak Grove native here. I live less than a mile away from where the high school was. It is now the memorial park. We also had a large program when I was in high school for the 20th anniversary where James Spann came and spoke. I was in the band and we played throughout the program. I even painted a picture for James Spann that I have to him that day. It’s kind of funny because that ‘98 tornado is how other Alabamians know where Oak Grove is.
About the possibility of a tornado hitting a major event is concerningley possible especially during prime tornado season which is when a lot of big events happen
On that note, I've only ever found one source for it, but in either the 40s or 50s, they had to stop a race, apparently at War Bonet Raceway in Oklahoma, to let a tornado go over the track, and i've heard from Indycar mechanics they've had to stop pre/in season testing due to tornado warnins up in Wisconsin. The one that leaps out to mind as far as a stadium is the Georgia Dome in 2008 however, I'm now wondering if that's ever happened actually.
As for the Indycar testing, I've heard first hand the teams have their protocols to drop everything and get to cover, the series as well had (at least at that time in the late 2000s/early to mid 2010s) had a way to handle the weather.
Tornadoes seem to love this area. They may run a mile or two to the left or right but we have many on this track. Just like the 2011 tornado was only a mile from the 1998 tornado. There was one in 1956 and many more.
Great video! Though your baseball footage wasn’t of the Birmingham Barons. It was of the Former Huntsville Stars. The former AAA team that was in Huntsville Alabama. Speaking of Huntsville, please do a video on the 1989 Airport Road Tornado. It was the worst tornado to hit Huntsville Alabama causing EF 4 Damage in a heavily developed part of the city. It was part of the November 1989 tornado outbreak
98. I went to a buddies house the next day to check on him and his family. Those high tension power lines crossed the road on the way to his house.
As the power guy told me while I was stopped, the lines and towers they ride on are designed to take a direct hit from an F3. I didn't realize how big those lines were till I saw them laying like spaghetti in front of me.
I was at Bethel Baptist Church that night for Wednesday service, I remember my mom picking me up and rushing back to our home in Moody. Thankfully the church was practically empty when the tornado hit.
The same tornado from this supercell that hit Dunwoody, GA also tracked west into neighboring Norcross/Peachtree Corners and actually cleared the land that eventually became my high school, Norcross HS
Another spectacular video.
I live in Birmingham, and I was at home when the tornado hit. But, my family would tell me that it wasn't as bad as in 1998. Now, I can see what they were talking about.
Was too young for the first one, but the 2011 one was hitting Pratt City when I first put eyes on it. When I say that storm was as wide as the city of Birmingham, I'm not being sarcastic. I was coming over the Hwy 280 hill, and it spanned as far as I could see from Red Mountain.
Bruh. Have you done Mayfield tornado/quad state tornado?
I so appreciate your videos!
Thanks Ruth!
any chance of you releasing your synth music as an album or something because its really good
Those tornados sucked hard. The one that swept through Cahaba that morning dropped a few white oaks on my house and leveled the rest of the street past us.
This morning I saw really dense fog, and I live in the Dixie Alley. Even though I'm not in the risk area, it's something to be concerned about since there's a day 4 enhanced risk West of me.
It could be interesting to do a video on McDonald Chapel at some point. The town is a magnet for tornadoes and has been struck by at least a dozen.
You should chase with Reed Timmer!!! Hes always looking for up and coming meteorologists to ride along with him!!! Get in touch. Also find a car rental place that will let him have a car
I'm a Survivor of The 1974 Super Tornado Outbreak, Xenia Ohio F-5 Tornado, Miraculously My Parents & I Survived UNINJURED as The House Was Violently Torn Away From Around Us, & We Watched In Shock As That Monster Ripped Violently Through The Town. I was 12 years old, A Child Actor & I grew up & became a Meteorologist. I'm Also A Jet-Rated Pilot & A Corporate Jet Owner. I'm still An Actor & Chase Storms! On April 27, 2011, I Flew My Plane into Atlanta where I felt that it would be safest. I Rented A Car at The Airport & Rocketed back to the East on Interstate 20 & Arrived in Tuscaloosa just as That Monster EF-4 Tore Through The City. I had professional Video Camera Equipment with me, & I saw That Tornado & I was stunned to the point that I never Started Rolling My Camera. I knew people were dying & I didn't have the heart to Start Rolling Video On That Blood Thirsty Monster, As I Thought Of It! I knew that day would produce Violent Storms, but I wasn't prepared for what I saw in A Populated Town Like Tuscaloosa. I'd left The Freeway & Had Parked At A Truck Stop & Watched In Horror. It brought back feelings that I'd not felt since my Childhood, until that day. I could only watch & pray, helplessly!
After April 3rd, 1974, The Weather Industry Advanced as Technology Advanced in the Years That Followed. After 2011, The Industry has Advanced Even Further. This class of Outbreak Only Happens Once Every 40 years or so. These Outbreaks Dispelled A Lot Of What Was General Tornado Knowledge At The Time. Things like, Tornadoes Don't Hit Populated Cities, Tornadoes Can't Cross Water & Tornadoes Can't Traverse Hills & Mountains. All of these things were taught in Schools & They're All Untrue! In reference to The 1998 Birmingham Tornado, I read that That Tornado Was So Violent that It Removed A Lot Of The Earth From Around An Underground Tornado Shelter, but The People Inside Were OK. But it was as if That Tornado Was Saying, "You Think That I Can't Get You If You're In An Underground Shelter, Think Again!"
I like how you wore a sweater from 1998 to commemorate the event
As far as "We are due for another tornado to hit another dixie alley city". the tornadoes that hit the southern suburbs of Birmingham in the spring of 2021 is probably the one we were due for IMO. The areas where those tornadoes hit are the most densely populated areas of the state and hit some major neighborhoods in the area. No fatalities to my knowledge but with the intensity of that storm and the populous it passed through we dodged a bullet for sure.
I was literally in that tornado. Half of my school was homeless after. I was a few miles from Mulga. Trees were on the ground like someone had dropped some matchsticks. It was really really close to me.
11:00 Hearing how someone died from a storm because they couldn't get weather updates because they lost power due to being behind on electric payments due to their child's healthcare bills is the most American thing I can think of...my god this is a downright horrible and immoral country, by far the worst of all the "developed" nations. Life is cheap and expendable in the USA, but hey, we got our freedoms!
James Spann’s the man!! Guided Bama through many tornadoes!!
The 27 Apr 11 Tuscaloosa Bham Tornado also cycled about the time it reached the airport. I had family at the Moody Church who were there & sent home.
i'd like to see you do the Kissimmee outbreak in 98, I dispatched EMS in Orlando on that night and its what started my interest in Tornados, I remember that one clearly I dispatched 20 Ambulances iun one breath on that one
Birmingham and Tuscaloosa are both the Moore Oklahoma's of Whiskey Alley