ABC 33/40 Coverage of the April 27, 2011 Outbreak (

Coverage of the largest tornado outbreak in recent history across the southeast. Abc 33/40 did an outstanding job warning civilians that day.

[@alan7314]

A sincere thank you to James, Jason , and the rest of the crew for all you did on that horrific day. NO OTHER WEATHER CREW COMES CLOSE TO THE CONCERN, passion, and stress for safety as you do. I have the upmost respect for your team. James, please don't ever leave 33/40! I will personally petition your management to do whatever it takes to keep you there. Thank you for all you are doing on a state level to get improvements put in place to get us more time for preparedness and getting an updated

[@OneHotNana]

I didn't get to see this because my power was out but I was listening. Amazing video! Thanks James and 33/40

[@jonathanmoore9661]

Wow I think I've seen every tornado vid on youtube and that one has been one of the most interesting. Great coverage and my thoughts go out to anyone whose lives were affected.

[@davidgarrison6936]

DAY NOT SOON forgotten in BAMA. I live on WALKER COUNTY side of Smith Lake... scary. fascinating. horrible. beautiful... AMAZING...THE FINGER OF GOD

[@davidgarrison6936]

+Dave Garrison was watching this from opposite side.

[@spidermoney5428]

Jonathan Moore I live about 5 minutes away from Tuscaloosa it was so scary

[@miche1df]

The shots of the multiple-vortex structure from 5-6 min. WOW.

[@dbuck01]

Wow. Insane to see that tv tower get toppled at 12:00 like it wasn't even moored.

[@PublicAtLarge]

Yeah, no kidding...Spann mentioned it was there, literally *just* in time for the tower to no longer exist. The station exists today at digital 43 but displays as channel 27 instead of 52. It was silent from 2012 to 2014. Whether that was due to rebuilding from this storm or other problems, I'd have to research more.

[@mitchconner2021]

That's just how powerful these things can be. It's absolutely insane

[@ItsCoreyLynxxYall]

James Spann and his crew did an awesome job of covering this. Especially since Cullman and other places experienced devastating damage earlier in the morning. They saw it on the towercam with that line that came through before the sun came up and now this. That was a day that will do down in history.

[@2sunshyne]

Amazing footage. One of the most scary days of my life. Thanks to abc 33/40 for the great coverage, and lives saved because of your warnings.

[@ILoveGodsWord413]

Thank you John for uploading this! May God be with those families and save them all!

[@Marty933]

years ago when I worked for the city, I was trained as a tornado spotter with an assigned spot to go when the weather got serious. After going through the training, we installed a reinforced shelter in our basement.

[@joshuaroberts6937]

The mutiple vortex structure of this tornado is some of the most amazing I've ever seen!

[@morganjohnson1987]

8:33 is INSANE and 9:25 is so beautiful.

[@jrgalluzzo]

I watched the live stream of this storm, and all the ones that followed, on my computer that afternoon. Terrifying experience. It was years before I could watch it again.

[@saiyongdawn7756]

I know what you mean. A tornado came through my town once. Hit only one side of town and kept moving. Never want go live down south again but now these things are happening on the East coast as well.

[@newstarcadefan]

Ah, I learn something new every day. Thanks for the correction. I do have a question, what Tornado coverage that you'd most like to see just to study it? I would definitely would hope that more local coverage of the 1985 tornado outbreaks can pop up somewhere.

[@MrJames641]

I wish any meterologist up here in Iowa could come close to how Spann and his crew handle severe coverage.

[@2sunshyne]

We were so fortunate not to have any damage at our house, but it wasn't that far away. I still need to get some pics to James, I have some gorgeous cloud pics from that day.

[@kingdawg237]

They're referring to the base. The Tuscaloosa/Birmingham tornado later that day was between 1/2 and nearly 1.5 miles wide for much of its life cycle, the Moore tornado was at one point 1.3 miles wide, and the El Reno tornado was 2.6 miles wide. The large tornadoes like that aren't very common, but happen a few times every year.

[@EricSummey]

I think Todd Howell (here in East Tennessee) but I wish we had James Spann during this outbreak as we may not been as badly hit as Alabama, but we were still hit very hard.

[@taradactule6052]

It was pretty bad..scary night..I was stuck on the road in Oak Ridge in the middle of a warning along with many other people..a tree had falleen over the bridge I needed to cross and we were all stuck..My dad got stuck by lightening that night as well..awful day.

[@sherrisRN]

Amazing to watch this old video with poor HD but you can still see the fur bath in if a monster from 5 miles away! Storm chasers would have been amazing to see in correlation!

[@JulesBhm]

I remember this part really well. As soon as we saw this on our little TV in Pelham, we got the heck out of work and went HOME!

[@kamwrites]

That was an incredible day. One I won't forget any time soon.

[@KR_Diecasts]

When it starts out it kinda looks like the jarrell tx tornado from 97

[@GuntersvilleLakeFishing]

largest tornado path recorded on the ground is 2.5 miles wide, i scene this tornado come into my town about 25-30 minutes after this video and it was a good half mile wide on the ground.

[@AndrewKratochvil]

11:57 see the tower get knocked over?

[@Hopeful_Libertarian]

Yeah, the tornado took out the side of the First Baptist Church right around that time.

[@kingdawg237]

Even though severe weather doesn't typically get this bad around where I live, the majority of severe weather consists of: "We interrupt programming for a severe weather alert". (Meteorologist comes on and talks for 3 minutes) Then goes back to regular programming, regardless of how many tornado warnings there are, and come back every 25 minutes.

[@kingdawg237]

Does anyone know if this tornado actually hit the skycam site?

[@big_yam]

Only took a few minutes for this tornado to cause damage that took years for the city of Culman to recover from. Absolute insanity.

[@brockreynolds870]

This is the time period this tornado took on the "Dead man walking" formation... obviously, Jason and James would most likely not use that term on the air, because it tends to be something that causes outright panic.

[@Vtang01]

When they say its about a half mile wide is that at the base on the ground or in the sky? I've always wondered that but kinda thought theres no way those things are a mile + wide on the ground o_0

[@PublicAtLarge]

At the base. And they absolutely do get that big.

[@Vtang01]

Jeremy Moses I couldn’t imagine....

[@tylermoon79]

@ Zachary James yeah spann is a great meteorologist.

[@taradactule6052]

Dead man walking..ugh chills.

[@TwisterKidMedia]

Very Nice, I actually am from Cincinnati so the 85 outbreaks didn't really affect my are but I'm pretty well versed on them. I believe you are correct with that being the only recorded f-5 tornado in Pennsylvania. 85 was a big season. This is my first season away from home as i am currently In norman oklahoma Studying meteorology at OU.

[@tracyfrederick5606]

Classic Cullman County path.... in that part of Alabama , Dixie Alley, they have strong EF4, E5 tornadoes that follow a certain path. I grew up, up there but I could never move back up there because of this. I'm so scared of tornadoes.

[@newstarcadefan]

Ah that's really interesting. I was only 3 when the outbreak of '85 happened on May 31. That one started in Niles, Ohio, and tore through Wheatland, PA (I lived in Farrell then), and ended in Mercer, PA. to my knowledge, and correct if I'm wrong, it's the only F-5 rated tornado in Pennsylvania's history.

[@sabishiihito]

There was no safe place from this thing other than out of the path. EF4/EF5, if you're not in an underground bunker, you're in trouble.

[@PooPoo-qz8ki]

sabishiihito I was in the Tuscaloosa tornado but I wasn't in a bunker, and I was fine, a miracle I guess.

[@apismellifera1000]

Like the multi-vortex structure of the twister

[@TwisterKidMedia]

Personally I would like to see coverage of April 3rd 1974. My parents were only 12 at the time and my father lived less than half a mile from the Saylor Park F-5 tornado track. Obviously there is no real radar data going back that far but i think it would be neat to relive it considering i wasn't alive at the time.

[@paulsonj72]

Not TV but search for WHAS 1974 tornado and you will get 7+ hours of radio coverage

[@AidentheRandom]

1:13 tornado touches down

[@czolgusevans8447]

Your right Tyler

[@czolgusevans8447]

Oh my goodness I have never seen a wedge tornado when it is skinny

[@Hopeful_Libertarian]

11:58 the tower falls down

[@GillFan26]

Everytime I watch it, that tower gets knocked down.

[@yorick22]

FalcoLombardi1726 because it was

[@annasuarnaba5864]

WHAT😳

[@newstarcadefan]

Wow...this is scary as hell. Thankfully the technology advanced big time. Those of us who survived the Tornado outbreaks of 1974 and 1985 didn't have the tower cams...though some markets (like mine) still depend on 15-20 minute old NWS radar feeds.

[@TwisterKidMedia]

NWS radar feeds are 5-6 minutes not 15.

[@isaiahsoma]

@Jesse Hicks- learn to comment on stuff related to the video. Probably the most amazing footage of a multi-vortex tornado I've ever seen.

[@adamwigginss]

at 11:58-12:00 it takes the tower

[@davidgarrison6936]

i live in Curry... Walker side of Smith Lake. i have pics of this Tornado as it was forming. I KNEW BAD STUFF WAS HEADED TO CULLMAN. I was nearly hit by 4 tornados. 2 where EF-4 ...and 2 where EF-3's. wild day April 27,2011 but the next few weeks and months were hell. GOD BLESS OUR SOULS LOST ... 😔🇺🇸🌹

[@carlahead2945]

Dave Garrison May all of those who lost their lives that day forever Rest In Peace; My prayers will always be with all of those people who survived that horrible nightmare.

[@Giratina575]

The wrath of mother nature is unfathomable seeing it like this is gutwrenching

[@TwisterKidMedia]

Ive been to the site many time and even submitted a photo or two! Im well aware of the wsr 57 radar data but im not really interested in it. Would have been nice to have some wsr 74 data to look at but alas black and white radar screen shot are all that exits! that and some vis sat imagrey

[@KR_Diecasts]

Its weird tho how it keep changing its structure you never saw its true form. Still a killer tornado like many others were that day

[@fuzedcorn]

Those horizontal vortices/tentacles are never a good sign.

[@newstarcadefan]

Ah nice, Good luck and be safe.

[@loveya1119]

wow....... I would've died during that- I'm too scared of tornadoes.

[@auburntiger211]

sad day

[@TruGamingReloaded]

This is almost like 1974, only with the Advanced Technology.

[@annasuarnaba5864]

What

[@jessehicks6686]

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuufo

[@pattibrooks1907]

Id like to be a storm chaser

[@GuntersvilleLakeFishing]

check out my youtube video's to see this tornado at its full strength.

[@jawbonefire]

They worry to much

[@Bitzy]

jawbonefire clearly they didn’t worry enough because despite the desperate warnings, so many people still died