When Supercells and Squall Lines Collide - 1989 Huntsville F4 Tornado

[@FoulWeatherFriend385]

No crappy stock footage, no silly thumbnail, a very well researched script, and most of all no robotic AI voice narration. THIS is how you make a documentary video.

[@173jaSon371]

God, do I hate the AI narration. Noticed the other day that the Weather Channel is using AI to produce their little videos now and it's just so......off-putting to listen to lol

[@artemis8396]

@@173jaSon371right, like why can't they just do their jobs as they did before? Cheap laziness. Not something I'd want to fund

[@173jaSon371]

@@artemis8396 You mean you don't want to pay for The Weather Channel Premium to get access to more hourly weather forecasts that are free elsewhere? Haha. Their product really is horrible now, similar to Animal Planet/Discovery Channel with their lame reality TV style shows instead of the old school, educational videos of old. Every product is going to shit now.

[@sntslilhlpr6601]

​@@artemis8396 Yeah it's an immediate turnoff for me. If they're too cheap to pay someone to voice it they're probably cheaping out on the script writing too. Easiest way to avoid pseudoscience on youtube is to not tolerate AI voicing. The one exception I have is Big Island Video News. I watch them whenever Kilauea erupts and the quality is top notch.

[@harryhanz1690]

Stephanie Abrams is a known slacker.

[@paulmatthews463]

Huntsville and its surrounding area is a historical magnet for strong tornadoes

[@Republic-Studios1]

Not really

[@drewski1535]

Then there was the outbreak of 1977 that bought down Southern Airways 242 in Georgia

[@Strype13]

Yeah, Huntsville, much like Moore (or, OKC outskirts in general), Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, etc... seem to be tornado magnets. I certainly wouldn't choose to reside anywhere near these cities without an incredibly robust storm shelter. Large swaths of these particular cities tend to be torn off the map by angry twisters every couple of decades or so. Terrifying.

[@truckerkevthepaidtourist]

Yeah a little bit East there definitely. Scottsville through henniker on down up towards fort Payne

[@MrEddiewise05]

Not really. We get tornadoes, but not like Texas and Oklahoma.

[@richardwakefield5902]

Hi Steve, love the videos and especially your style. Just a quick note from an electrical engineer to enrich the technical accuracy of your videos - when power flashes occur, they aren't due to transformers exploding. That's a common misconception that comes from the loud bang that occurs often near a transformer when the power goes out. The loud "bang" is the report of an expulsion fuse up on a pole clearing a fault. The power flashes themselves come from when energized power lines hit each other or something connected to the ground as a result of wind or debris. This creates a short circuit and allows massive amounts of energy to be released in a blindingly bright arc that can be seen for many miles, especially at night.

[@SomeplaceScary]

That's fascinating, thanks for sharing!:)

[@danielelise7348]

As a transmission/powerline engineer,can confirm,phase to phase & phase to earth faults are particularly dangerous,conductor galloping and skipping is also a danger as the arcing process produces showers of molten metal,which can be carried great distances in high winds.

[@morganw.2473]

I've had the experience of living close to power lines that would/could sway in high winds and arc together. It will definitely get your attention, no tornado needed at times.

[@davis83]

As a high voltage linesman by trade for 20+ years, you’re absolutely correct. And the fuse you’re referring to is called a expulsive dropout fuse, or EDO fuse for short. They’re the high voltage protection fuses for the distribution transformers and are meant to blow quickly to stop any arcing across the fuse carrier terminals. And trust me, I’ve had a few blow whilst closing them in and they go off like a shotgun!!!

[@askedkedeldeif]

Appreciate it man, you learned me somethin new lol.

[@dmedlin8118]

Fascinating video. I lived in Huntsville when this tornado hit, although on the north side of town. I'm a pilot, and I was amazed at the towering Q at about 11 in the morning, showing the severe instability. There are many small factoids and stories you wouldn't have had available to you. First is that the HSV weather office was hit by lightning during this event which knocked some equipment including the NOAA radio feed, off the air. People commuting nearby remarked that this storm didn't look like a tornado, but as a simple cloud moving along the ground, much like the infamous tri-state tornado of Murphysboro, IL. I had friends working at the Winn Dixie on Whitesburg Ave whose first warning of the storm were their ears popping shortly before impact. The tornado grazed one of the area hospitals, taking it out of action. I remember the car on top of the substation on Airport Road. Surprisingly, a church-run school that was hit had no fatalities but lots of lacerations and such. One of the most interesting stories, however, was at the Jones Valley Elementary school, which took a direct hit, and had only a short warning as it was on the opposite side of wooded Garth Mountain from the approaching storm. Several painters were working on the exterior of the brand new school, saw the storm coming over the hill, and quickly ran inside and gathered all the remaining children and hid in a stairwell just as the tornado hit. Nothing was left of the school but that stairwell, but all kids survived! Sadly, several parents waiting in their cars outside were killed. We found many personal effects on the runway of the small Moontown airport I flew out of--mostly clothes. One of the memories that stays with me is how many of the cars that were hit had their paint sandblasted completely off. I remember many more things and took quite a few pictures. Huntsville is a tornado magnet. I had a circulation pass directly over my house, and since then several F4 storms have passed by within a mile or so. Because houses there don't generally have basements and bedrock is close to the surface, many yards have storm shelters with dirt piled around.

[@MarksKicksOnRoute66]

Did you fly out of Redstone Airfield? My dad was written test examiner back then.

[@dmedlin8118]

@@MarksKicksOnRoute66 Moontown (3M5)

[@MarksKicksOnRoute66]

@@dmedlin8118 he would fly into there from time to time.

[@pap3rw8]

Thank you for sharing your memories. It's important to hear from people who lived through it. Must've been a traumatic experience.

[@ricklyle3739]

Thanks for the details. I lived in apartment off of Drake Ave at the time and one of the things I remember is the pictures on the news of cars stacked on top of each other like Legos.

[@dougturbeville842]

Hey Steve, I was actually in the tornado. I was five years old and in preschool off Bob Wallace Avenue about a mile from airport Road where the most damage occurred from the tornado. I never forget it. My dad took off work to pick me up as all of us kids were in the hallway taking tornado precautions. The sky was dark green and it was so calm and incredibly warm for November I remember my dad, drop me with my mom at home and he went down to airport Road to help with the recovery efforts. what a great video brings back a lot of memories. Rest in peace to the victims that lost their lives that day.

[@MisterKolle]

I am a Huntsville native, but I was born only a year before this tornado occurred. I heard stories from my family of this tornado. My mother says she will never forget the sinister green sky she saw on her drive home that afternoon. One of my aunts was a nurse at Crestwood Medical Center (which is located on Airport Road) that day and ran up and down the stairs treating patients so often that she lost her shoes at some point and only realized it after she severely cut herself on glass littering the hallways from all the shattered windows. I have watched several videos about this tornado, and this one is the best one I have seen.

[@tracyfrederick5606]

I've only seen a little bit about it. The WAAY video, a remembrance video and I think that's it. There's more?

[@bobbenson6825]

I've only seen the real green sky once and that was enough. A tornado got as close as between 1.25 and 1.5 miles from my home in southern tier of NY.

[@NathanAllen]

My Uncle was a Huntsville firefighter and was involved in the rescue efforts after this. He told me that it was his longest shift, over 48 hours. The damage from this tornado was still evident several decades later.

[@ssaircare]

I was in this tornado when I was a kid I was in the hospital on the main road getting X-Rays done and I was there by myself my parents had to go and do errands and after the tornado I thought everybody was dead because you could not call anybody because all the phone lines were down. It was one of the most scariest things I've ever gone through and seeing this I never thought they would ever do a video on it

[@hiraethica]

I hope your family was okay 🙏

[@WeatherManSeek]

The wait is over time to watch this a 100 times

[@MetalisBae]

Dude, felt that 😂

[@WeatherManSeek]

Didn't mean for this to be rude or anything btw just saying that it's good you spent this long for a great video.

[@djmoch1001]

I’m glad that I’m not the only one to watch his videos repeatedly. They’re just so fascinating and amazingly put together, with stellar graphics and animations. To say nothing of being utterly educational.

[@FloozieOne]

I don't know about 100, but a few dozen at least. : )

[@nuggetwagon]

I always felt this tornado’s intensity was terribly understated. Airport drive and parts of the Whitesburg shopping center parking lot were literally peeled from the earth. A huge apartment complex and its parking lot were reduced to red clay. Concrete pads on some of those structures didn’t survive. The tornado dug a trench on the ground. I will never forget seeing the aftermath, as I was approaching that area of Huntsville for business as it was happening. I’ll never forget the scene. It was impossible to fathom.

[@darwinwins]

"...the deadliest tornado to ever hit huntsville..." the fact that there's been several is concerning.

[@yeetoburrito]

from what I could tell, since 1900 Huntsville has been hit by 2 F/EF0s, 6 F/EF1s, 5 F/EF2s, 3 F/EF3s, and 4 F/EF4s

[@ArcaneIrony]

Huntsville literally got hit by another weak tornado earlier this month

[@14Rocket]

Could be worse. Moore, OK was hit with tornadoes in 1893 (probably f4), 1937, 1951 (F2), 2 in a three day period in 1960 (both F2s), another a month later in 1960 (F2), two in 1961 a day apart (both F0), two in 1973 on the same day (both F3), one in 1974 (F1), one in 1991 (F1), the F5 in 1999 followed by an F0 the following day, an F0 in 2003 followed by the F4 that day, the trio of tornadoes hit in 2010 (one F4 and two F1s), the F5 in 2013, two in 2015 (one F1 one F2), two in 2018 (F0 and F1). If I tallied that right is F0s: 4, F1s: 6, F2s: 5, F3s: 2, F4s: 2, F5s: 2.

[@dmedlin8118]

I lived there. Huntsville was/is a tornado magnet. The geography didn't help, probably for the reasons given in this video, with Monte Sano and the associated ridge.

[@jemmaisweird]

oh they’ve had PLENTY

[@csc7225]

Watching this from my apartment just off Airport Road in Huntsville. So difficult to imagine our peaceful neck of the woods suffering this destruction. Excellent video.

[@selenepickins4874]

Hi Steve, tyvm for covering this awful event. I'm a retired Critical Care RN & a lifelong resident of Alabama, though I live in Tuscaloosa County which is about 4 hrs southwest of Huntsville. I do have friends who live there though & I've heard them talk about that day. Ah, 1989, we were so young! Just look at James Spann's little baby face! Lol. He was a serious meteorologist & a great advocate for the state to get itself in gear & get some Doppler installed here. Me? I was 29, a young mother & sharpening my knowledge about the weather & tornadoesanytime I wasn't working & could. Thanks for those memories that make me smile but a bigger thanks for covering this tornado. It deserves to be remembered & the victims deserve to be honored. I think it's important to remind folks that Alabama has tornadoes during 2 seasons yearly down here in Dixie Alley. Great video. Well done

[@tracyfrederick5606]

Actually , it's from November to May. So technically it's only one long tornado season.

[@crakhaed]

Wow, 29! That's how old I am now. I couldn't imagine myself having to raise kids so real kudos to you for pulling it off 😊

[@marioex497]

I live in Huntsville AL and I work with a man that lived through this tornado. His wife and step son had to be rescued from the rubble of their apartments. We recently had an EF2 come through the northwest part of town and luckily no one had serious damage. Our area of the country gets a surprising amount of tornadoes. I had a lot of memories from the 2011 outbreak when I was in 6th grade too

[@steinravnik8692]

Lived through this one at age 12. Anecdotes- our family doctor worked in a medical plaza near Crestwood hospital. Lost his arm and had a prosthetic arm the rest of his life. My scoutmaster from church had his van at the Chevron gas station on Airport road. It was recovered several miles away. I went with my scout troop the next day to help clean up.

[@grapeshot]

Dixie Alley tornadoes have the tendency to be ambushed artists. The hilly wooded terrain coupled with the fact that they're often rain-wrapped and nocturnal. Makes them a specially deadly.

[@Caddynars]

Indeed. Add in the fact they have much more moisture on tap from the Gulf of Mexico, and most Dixie Alley tornadoes tend to be strong and long tracked.

[@Skippyboy2348]

Spent many nights sleeping in my basement in the Atlanta area…

[@RikkiSpanish]

Another really fascinating and scary cold season tornado is the F4 that hit the communities of Brentwood and Franklin, TN on Christmas Eve 1988. The tornado hit at about 6 am, on December 24th. Out of all of things going through the average American's mind on Christmas Eve, I seriously doubt tornadoes are one of them. Despite all of the neighborhoods, apartments complexes, and stores that were destroyed, one person died. The even more tragic thing about that fatality was that it was a WWII veteran who had buried his daughter after she lost her battle with cancer not even two whole days before the tornado took him. His wife survived and had to go on without her husband and their daughter.

[@HistoryNerd808]

I'm not a patent or married but I can't imagine how she went on like that, having to spend Christmas in mourning. I hope shr was ablr to get any help she needed because I can't imagine that she had an easy time mentally after that.

[@calyodelphi124]

Your brief explanation of a hodograph came with an EXTREMELY enlightening nugget of info, and that it's a plot of all the wind vector tips connected together, rather than the wind vectors connected tip to tail!

[@windwatcher11]

Tricky, huh!😂 I appreciated this, too.

[@MarksKicksOnRoute66]

Fantastic job sir! I'm from HSV and remember it well. James came up from Birmingham the next day and reported on-site.

[@exi1eddragoon543]

My dad is in a photo taken by the Huntsville Times walking down Airport Rd after the tornado. He left his apartment a mere 15 minutes before a 2x4 went clean through his living room window.

[@MoonieMoonball]

Dude, I started writing out a whole comment saying that my dad was in it too and realized who you were 😂😂😂😂 sup bro. Didn't know you like this channel too 😅 I was only 11 months old when this happened and I know we had just moved here from TX but I don't recall where we lived. I know it was somewhere in Huntsville for a very short time before moving to the county area

[@GoatPilot04]

I was very close to this tornado. We were 1/4mi from Airport Rd as it touched down. We were headed to eat Mexican when it got very bad and was blowing the car everywhere, which happened to be my fathers 1967 Camaro my Mother and I had taken for the day. She was terrified and we were forced to park where we were on the Parkway because you couldnt see to drive and the car was being blown all over the road. We couldn't see the tornado from our location as it approached but thankfully wasnt heading directly where our Camaro was parked. Of course, I was relegated to the back seat and told my babbling and complaining was making my mother nervous, but I was just trying to comfort my mother and let her know at least we were together, and I would take care of her. I was of small stature and not very strong at the time. Possibly because being two years old at the time, there was little I could do except tell my mother it would be ok, and ride it out where we were. It was a lot for my mother to handle but I think she did good as scared as she was, but she knew I would take care of her. It was a rough day for us but I was going to make sure she was ok. 😉 Serious note: we were heading to El Palacio (I think that was it?) and we were in my Dads Camaro (R.I.P. Pop) and got as close to a quarter mile to ground zero as it was happening. My mom and her friend had a cassette playing loudly and didnt hear anything on the radio or the sirens going off. Luckily my Mom had s good mother's instinct and didnt feel too good about how nasty the weather was and pulled over right then. Someone pulled up beside us and made her roll the window down and told her a tornado was virtually in front of us and she put the 4 speed to work lol. She drove away north as fast as possible fighting the winds and trashed all four steel wheels jumping some curbs. Her and my Dad (both trained in emergency medicine/trauma) were both down there hours later assisting while my Grandparents came to Madison to watch me. I dont remember any of it of course, but it really wrecked them forever and they were terrified of tornadoes every time a severe storm rolled into town each spring and fall when its bad here.

[@Strype13]

While that story is quite adorable, I'm trying to envision a two-year-old telling their parent, "Don't worry! As long as I'm here, you have nothing to worry about! I'll protect you and ensure nothing bad happens to us!"

[@GoatPilot04]

@Strype13 I bet you're fun at parties sheesh

[@willb5036]

thanks for the great description of such a horrible day.... I would never doubt you like me have the world's best Mom, but Mom's who can drive the sh*t outta 60's era manual transmission muscle cars are top o the top lol!!!

[@cosmo3485]

This is an event I knew absolutely nothing about, and was interesting to hear. Great job once again, Steve!

[@RiverSummer6613]

Thanks for covering this tornado. It doesn’t get talked about very often. Could you possibly talk about the June 29 2012 derecho? I want to know what weather phenomena went into such a powerful storm.

[@Tirani2]

I lived through that storm and its aftermath in Maryland. It sucked hard, you can still see the spots where some of the winds knocked down whole lines of trees in forested areas.

[@mattkowal90]

Huntsville's other notable infamous day for tornadoes or should I say night was April 3rd, 1974. The city itself was struck by a strong F3 at about 11 PM, but the city had not one, not two, but three F5 tornadoes strike within 25 miles. In 5 hours, you had the two Tanner F5 tornadoes in the next county that struck 30 minutes apart, and if the Guin F5 continued on the ground...big time trouble. The F3 was spawned by the same supercell that produced the Guin tornado (which dissipated about 20 miles to the Southwest). The Hackleburg-Phil Campbell EF5 on April 27th, 2011, also passed within 25 miles, following the same path as the two Tanner F5s. A tornado emergency was actually declared for the city as it approached.

[@tracyfrederick5606]

That was a horrible day 😩

[@danielkaiser8971]

Wasn't that the Super Outbreak of 1974? I was three years old in Oklahoma City during that event. We didn't get tornadoes, but we also didn't have sophisticated technology back then. I don't remember much, but we did have sirens and the weatherman on TV was advising everyone to take shelter. It was in fact that particular event that ultimately led to my fascination of severe weather and tornadoes that I still have today. It took me until about age 17 before I lost my phobia of the sound of crashing thunder, all because of that event.

[@WillisRae37]

April 27th, 2011 is such a wild fever dream to me. The week that followed- no power but the air outside was eerily perfect all week. Lines outside every grocery store and every gas station. I remember being led through the groceries store one by one with a staff member to get non refrigerated items only, in the dark with a head lamp/ flashlight. Curfew- no one was allowed to be out past dusk nor before dawn. Had a friend get arrested for this and spent the night in jail cause they were sitting in their own car outside their own home during curfew cause they wanted peace and quiet. That day and week following are burned into my memory

[@danielwieten8617]

Man. That’s nearly as much of a mesoscale accident as Jarrell. So many weird things had to come together. This is also some of the best and most succinct explanation of a severe weather setup and environment I’ve ever seen. Well done.

[@yeetoburrito]

babe wake up weatherbox just uploaded

[@OuterGalaxyLounge]

Babe, wake up. Another parrot posted this same stupid unoriginal comment for the 10 millionth time.

[@AlwaysChasingStorms]

I don't want to wake.... 🥺😢😭

[@kelly00000111111]

ay bay bay

[@YaLikeJazzEh]

i have been WAITING for a Weatherbox upload lets gooo

[@olgabukaa8530]

same here. I was watching some other youtubers and wondering when Weatherbox will upload :) wait time is over

[@randygalloway618]

Another comment: This tornado galvanized local government to pay more attention to severe weather, which would in time, put them squarely as an existential threat to the National Weather Service modernization plans, which among other things deployed Doppler radar nationwide and closed several weather service offices (including Huntsville--and leaving north Alabama to be covered by radars at Nashville and south of Birmingham). After the storm, the local governments paid for a Enterprise Doppler post processor to be added to the WSR-74C radar at the Huntsville Weather Service Office at the Huntsville airport. The weather service fought this since they saw it as a threat to their plans to close Huntsville (specifically, and other offices in general) and also a bit of a technical threat since they had sold Congress that they had to have the new expensive radars and having an older radar be modernized with Doppler capability for a few hundred $K was anathema to them. After much wrangling, the hardware was installed and proved very successful at providing warnings during several severe weather episodes. This set off a running gun battle which lasted for years between local citizens and governments (and the Alabama congressional delegation) and the National Weather Service. The Weather Service won the first battle since they first took away warning responsibility from the Huntsville Office and then eventually shut it down. However, they lost the war since it was proven that their radar coverage of the area was inadequate. Thanks to Congressman Cramer, Senator Shelby and others in Congress, the Huntsville Office was reinstated and a new WSR-88D installed on Skyline Mountain NE of Huntsville. These changes would prove essential to provide warnings in the 2011 Super Outbreak and many other severe weather events since the re-establishment of the office and installation of the radar.

[@Kurzov]

As opposed to what happened to Huntsville, the NWS modernization efforts of the 80s and 90s also closed the Charlotte weather service office (as well as other offices that had forecast responsibility in parts of what is now the GSP WFO) and gave much of its responsibility over to the WFO (forecast office) in Greer/Greenville-Spartanburg SC. While a TDWR (airport radar) still exists at the Charlotte airport, it is not adequate, and the GSP doppler radar is much too far away - and Charlotte is now home of one of America's most significant doppler radar gaps. Efforts to put a new radar in Charlotte have been mixed.

[@janblackman6204]

They were predicting this storm days before it hit. I didn’t go to work that day and listened to the radio. When a dj in Decatur started hollering to take cover I grabbed my toddler and went a few miles to a friend’s storm shelter. I was by myself and couldn’t hear from my husband or older daughter who was in high school. It missed my mother in law by yards. Very scary time and the next day it was snowing

[@nated7229]

I was 7 when this happened, and i remember it well. We live north of Huntsville, and i remember my parents talking aout it when it happened.

[@ToastedNoodle]

🚨NORTH ALABAMA MENTIONED LETS GOOOO🚨

[@CaasiAndestein]

hello there

[@uhuhuhuhuhuh3537]

Most goated half of the state

[@laplanetesauvage5391]

my favorite weather channel. thank you for explaining CAPE and shear, and including formulas

[@craftycurate]

Your videos are highly informative and detailed, and beautifully presented with excellent supporting materials. My favourite tornado channel!

[@xyzct]

Absolutely everything about this presentation was A+. Watching was a pleasure, and I learned so much!

[@1994ggril]

My grandfather was a doctor in Huntsville at the time and had an office on airport road. He managed to get every patient and staff member of his into the stairwell of his office before the tornado hit. No lives were lost

[@zachsteiner]

I love how much deeper you’ve been going into the meteorology lately. It’s awesome!

[@randygalloway618]

I was working at the Marshall Space Flight Center back then. I distinctly remember how warm and windy it was for a couple of days before the storm. In fact, my office mate went windsurfing in the Tennessee River at Decatur (it was 80 plus degrees and lots of S wind) the day before the storm. I was a newly minted ham radio licensee and had my brand new radio with me at work that day. I was listening to it as the supercell moved across Decatur, dumping large hail. I called my wife and told her that I would not come home until after the storm had passed and would go to a building down the street (Bldg 4708) that had a basement. In the picture at 18:33, I was about .8 mile to the west of that location. As the storm reached its height, the building fire alarm went off, which was about the time that picture was taken. Nobody in their right mind would go outside in such weather, but I did position myself near the basement stairs. I'll never forget the firefighters coming in and starting to admonish me for not evacuating, but then thinking the better of it. The wind and rain blew in twenty feet from the door and it was black as night at 4:25pm. The alarm was false, probably from lightning. I went back in the basement and listened to the 146.94 repeater weather net. It was pretty quiet until a person identifying themselves as a National Guard sergeant came on the net and reported a tornado on the ground at the old airport headed down Airport Road. There were probably twenty people around me and several turned white when they heard that. I remember how quiet the net was for a few minutes then all hell broke loose with people reporting damage along Airport Road, Whitesburg Drive, Jones Valley, and later, across the mountain on Dug Hill Road. I got out and went home afterwards and spent the night well into morning helping handle health and welfare traffic on 2 meters as all telephone lines into Huntsville were down. We could call locally but no one could get in. A few months later, I went to a talk by MSFC's Dr. Steve Goodman, who discussed the aspects of the line merger, but I don't recall that he had the mesonet data you cite. His was more of a case study on radar data compared to other similar situations. Interestingly enough, a few weeks ago (5/8/24) another tornado hit Huntsville on a path a few miles north that probably crossed the 89 path on the east side of the mountain. That system had spawned an EF3 earlier in Limestone County but had cycled. It really upticked when it got near Huntsville. Its possible that the topography may have influenced that storm as well as it touched down only a short distance west of Monte Sano in Five Points.

[@billylove5793]

I was in 1st grade and remember everything about that day, down to the episode of ducktails. Never thought about the influence monte sano might have had on the circulation. After the storm, for several years and maybe even till today, the trauma of that day really made the valley much more aware of severe outbreaks.

[@beckamarie2438]

We all want a tornado video from our past! After 1000 just this year it's not surprising we all have a lot in common! Wichita Falls, TX 1979! Terrible Tuesday

[@dmeemd7787]

This is always fascinating to me as a kid, because it was always noted as “three tornadoes merging to one before entering town”

[@beckamarie2438]

@@dmeemd7787 I was only eleven years old but I remember it like yesterday!

[@The_Chewmiester]

Being a Huntsville native back then, this was a scary sight. One of the worst tornadoes in our history. You did a really good job covering it. Nice work.

[@rossparker4374]

Thank you for making this! The 89 Airport Rd tornado was one of the worst in Huntsville history I’m glad to finally see a well made video on it

[@LeftyLabs]

The Algorithm has started feeding me your content today and wow, three videos in a row about weather events I either lived through or, like this one, saw the aftermath of. About 6 months after this tornado, I got a job out of college with Boeing Huntsville. My girlfriend and I were driving around one May weekend with the local Apartment Guide in hand to find a place to rent. We turned onto Airport Road looking for an adjacent apartment complex only to find it completely missing. That’s when we learned about this tornado.

[@hazzard_destroyer]

I really appreciate you doing this video showing that violent tornados can happen even outside of tornado season. It helps people know even outside of tornado season make sure to take the weather seriously

[@william_the_demon6193]

Bob Baron was one of the forecasters in Huntsville at the time and afterward he worked to get doplar to weather stations

[@jonahboy6388]

If you ever can, please make a video about the Dallas-Rowlett 2015 Tornado, there is no documentary that talks about which is unbelievable since were talking about an EF4 that stroke a major metropolitan area such as Dallas. Id like to know the set up that day, the path and the impact in the city! Thanks in advance.

[@andre36wo]

The stills from those interchange cameras are terrifying

[@8CountAudio]

This is probably the best case study of any topic-in any discipline-on YT

[@joshuaspacek88]

This guy really does a great job, from the descriptions, explanations, footage, and delivery. I must say I was very impressed!

[@Tirani2]

Rewatching this, it occurs to me that that is the best explanation of how to read a hodograph, understand bulk windshear, and how storm mode is determined that I've seen in a long, long time. Thank you.

[@NVRAMboi]

Thanks very much Steve. And thanks for bringing up television Meteorologist James Spann. Listening to and/or watching Spann for almost five decades has been a privilege for me. Knows his state and communities (very well) within his (TV/Radio and now internet) broadcast areas. I consider him to be the AL version of the great Gary England. He's always been a non-alarmist professional, especially in live/real-time storm coverage. I hold your KZbin work in very high regard. You're exceptional in discussing and explaining weather. Thank you!

[@TheJusstCrab]

Thank you for all you do Steve

[@MetallicAAlabamA]

Appreciate you doing a video on this tornado. One that I've been wanting to see since I started watching the type of content that you and many other creators produce for people such as myself. I remember this storm very well. A storm system that I remember seeing that kinda teal green tint to the storm clouds, which is caused by light scattering from hail inside the core of the storm. I was about to turn 11 as my birthday is the 20th of November, and one of my best friends at the time. His birthday was the 15th of November. And his birthday party was canceled due to the bad weather that day. I live about a 45 min drive to the west of Huntsville, in the Shoals. I'm 45 now, and have watched these massive storms over my years hit close to home, like Hackleburg, Phil Campbell, Guin, Haleyville, which are 30-45 min to my south. And there seems to be this corridor if you look at tracks of alot EF4-5 tornadoes. There seems to be an area where alot have made that trip from the Mississippi state line around the Smithville/Amory area, through Marion, Winston, Franklin, Lawrence, far eastern Lauderdale, Morgan, and Madison counties. You mentioned topography having an affect on how surface winds travel and how they affect tornadoes. I have a thought that the way the Appalachian mountains are located, with the southwest to northeast placement. I think they may be enhancing storms west of the Appalachian mts, Then can influence storms to the east of the range, from the descending surface winds that flows over the range, and help the warmer air rise at the surface. That's why I think that storms that are tornado producing cells, usually stop around the West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky state lines. Yes WV has had tornadoes, but when you look at a map where tornadoes have occurred over the last 50 years, especially EF3 or greater. You see a huge difference from the amount of tracks west of the state of WV, then as you look at WV, tornado tracks decrease alot. Then pick back up as you get into eastern Virginia, down through the Carolinas. I'm sure someone has done research on that hypothesis, just don't know if there is any peer reviewed work done on it. Anyway, thanks for what you do. I really enjoy watching.

[@BestGuy2103]

HUNTSVILLE ALABAMA MENTIONED ❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️ In all seriousness, cool video! Ive heard stories about this, but never knew how bad it truly was

[@MegaBiker199]

As someone who has lived in Huntsville my entire life, since 1997, this event has always intrigued me. My father still has home video of the aftermath I was really invested in growing up. This has what got me interested in meteorology. Thank for you a very detailed video.

[@tornadostories]

Your knowledge and teaching presentation is absolutely top rate. Brilliant work 👍

[@notmyclout1552]

Genius masterpieces one after another

[@alexschultz8917]

Just started and wow. Reminds me of the pure joy I got when I was younger watching the documentary of great knowledge and actual footage. It teaches me alot.

[@benschmidt8168]

My life goes on pause whenever a new weatherbox vid goes live!

[@Focusedfelix]

I learned more about meteorology and storm mechanics from this one video than the dozens of tornado documentaries I've seen. o7

[@randomlyentertaining8287]

Magic weather man, please come back to us. I'm suffering from incredible withdraw.

[@weatherboxstudios]

video on Monday! you're the first to know

[@randomlyentertaining8287]

@@weatherboxstudios Magic weather man answered my prayer! 🥲 Got distracted right when I got the notification for this heart and only now got the chance to see it. Hilariously, YT recommended me the new video on the homepage before I could see this XD

[@jeffhoman4568]

You have mentioned this wind convergence on several of your videos and it makes a ton of sense. But I watch several other tornado videographers on KZbin and barely ever hear it get mentioned? I figure if this kind of event is so prominent, you'd hear it more from others. But lots of great info as per usual! Keep up the good work!

[@loficampingguy9664]

Once again another stellar video by weatherbox. Every single on I feel like I actually learn something, and the past several have been really good examples of how to teach something using a case study. I always see people talk about fancy weather terms and throw up charts on the screen, and it seems like you are the only one who _really_ takes the time to explain what it means and how it relates to the subject event.

[@morganw.2473]

Great work! The only critique I can offer is to note that no one in North Alabama that day would have been watching James Spann. He didn't cover the market. A man who did cover the market was Bob Barron. He would have been great to have mentioned in this video. It was this tornado that would lead him to retire from on-air meteorology and found Barron Weather Services. He and his colleagues would go on to become an integral part in the development of Doppler Radar which, as you mentioned, would have helped tremendously with tracking and warning this tornado. Anyway, maybe Bob Barron can be the subject of a future video. Thanks for the hard work! 👍

[@samtheman2925]

Love the videos man, hope this gets to lots of people!!!

[@Moeszy]

I love all your videos, but this one takes it to another level. From the graphics, to the snippets of James Spann, and the weather channel, to the well thought out and written script, to the excellent narration, this is top notch. Very well done.

[@malikabrown7439]

I lived there many years ago, and the weather was always extreme even thunderstorms were intense there.

[@BaronVonPwn]

I was living just south of Evansville during that storm. You don't hear much about it. But most of those deaths came from the massive trailer park on the extreme southern edge of the county . Memorable to me because my grandparents where visiting because my brother was getting baptized that weekend.

[@anneirvine-ondrey9884]

I'd love to see you cover the Palm Sunday twin tornados in Michigan. There's a great revision of the book about it out!

[@choopins5370]

Canadian here from Huntsville, Ontario. Was very confused about this video title until 10 seconds in. It’s always the Alabama Huntsville that is interesting.

[@tornadotrx]

This was an awesome retrospective. One of those events I really wanted to learn about but haven't gotten the chance to research. Today's the day ! xD

[@lymbical]

these videos are able to teach difficult concepts so easily and I think its helpful for anyone looking to get into weather

[@AF99499]

I've watched other videos and have had met majors explain hodographs to me and it's all gone over my head. This video might be the best explanation of them. Very easy to understand after all these years pretending I know what to look for in hodos.

[@R2D2C_3po]

This sounds like a similar storm to the Joplin Tornado of 2011. The Joplin tornado was likewise created by the merger of two supercells. However, I read that the supercell merger which created the Joplin Tornado back in 2011 was an extraordinarily rare type of storm merger. In fact, it was so rare that you could live multiple lifetimes, and never see another storm come together like it did in Joplin.

[@htseg]

I love this channel! So much quality content! Especially liked the ep on the Blizzard of 78!

[@allysonkitchens5840]

Great video. My dad watched this storm cross Redstone Arsenal. It was a monster. A high school classmate was at a business on Airport RD. and survived. Thank you for the info on cold season tornadoes.

[@ricklyle3739]

WOW! This brought back some bad memories I had completely forgotten about. My newlywed wife and I lived in apartment off of Drake Ave at the time this hit. Thanks for sharing this content. Excellent work

[@halfdollar86]

We just had a Squall line catch up to the Dawson Spring, KY Tornado here this last week. It kinda had the opposite affect here. There was an ongoing powerful tornado and when the line caught it weakened the storm. When it did, it pushed it south east pretty hard. It kept rotation for a good while and had some major wind damage in its direct path even after the tornado stopped. It’s amazing how each setup can differ so much. Weather is truly amazing to me.

[@173jaSon371]

You do a great job of explaining things to a casual viewer while still breaking things down into the finer details. I understood the gist of everything you went over, but you explaining it really helped my brain pull it all together. Was another example of a cell being consolidated into a line the recent Barnsdall EF4? From what I know, that tornado was heading to Bartlesville but was consolidated into the line just in time. Also found the bit about the small mountains near Huntsville quite interesting. I live along the northern edge of the Ozark Plateau in SE MO and storms seem to always split around my area or dissipate before reaching it. It also seems to shoot storms toward the Carbondale/Marion IL area from the Perryville MO area.

[@JoshuaAtnip-u4g]

My grandad was a Huntsville firefighter that worked this storm. One thing he always told me that you didn’t touch on was how the next day they were fighting snow while digging through the rubble. How freezing cold it was and how his fire jacket was almost solid it was so hardened.

[@sjogre7789]

My brother was stationed there when this hit. Many years later, we talked about it. After talking to him, I was surprised more people didn't die.

[@randytracy1742]

Welcome back, weatherbox! I enjoyed your video on the f4 tornado 🌪️ of Huntsville, Alabama of November 15, 1989 -I was watching your account of the storm and how it formed-you explained very well the conditions that led to this disaster-including the weather that occurred on that night- I commend you for this fine report! 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

[@jiggy7719]

I watched this happen on the radar right after the recent large tornado near Springfield, KY last weekend. I remember watching the easterly squall line ram into the same super cell that made that tornado. The velocity went insane for the first bit until it finally choked it out. Thank you for explaining more about this, I learned a lot. Peak video production and editing. Makes me glad to have subscribed to you awhile back. Great content.

[@CdogThePro]

Your videos are really cool! Im not sure if you take requests, but one historic tornado I'd really like to see a video on eventually is the Inverness, MS F5 in February of 1971, the only F5 tornado to hit Louisiana.

[@jadergade637]

Ya know, I really wanted to start storm chasing with my ‘99 RAV4, but after learning that it’s a rollover vehicle, I had to put that dream away. I didn’t think that it was light enough to go airborne, so that was a fun fact I learned from this video! 🤣 it’s awesome to know that you also have a 1st Gen RAV4!! Happy trails! 🌪

[@slipknot6622]

I really appreciate the breakdowns, maps, and analogies that help tie complex ideas together! Keep it up, love your videos

[@kathyroux7386]

Steve, I always look forward to your videos. Well done!

[@weatherboxstudios]

Thanks Kathy!

[@artemis8396]

@@weatherboxstudiosoh hey you're here. Hi!

[@FloozieOne]

This is a fascinating video. I know a little about tornados but I emphasize the little. I almost left near the beginning because it was so technical but I'm glad I held on because so much was explained later on. This is one I am going to have to go back and re-watch a few times to understand it all, but it will be a pleasure with your nice calm voice and a measured script. This is going into my (very small) Best of the Best listing.

[@jkneeland89]

This really makes me appreciate meteorologists a lot more. I don't think I'll be giving them crap for getting a prediction wrong anymore lol.

[@assaultlick2169]

I learned quite a bit here. Thanks

[@StormChaserMommaG]

I remember this. H'ville is a hot spot for Tors. As for the Daylight savings or not- it has nothing to do with when we get hit be it day or night. Just bc the TIME is an hour off doesn't mean everything else is off, the day/night is still the same.

[@davidjblythe]

I was five years old when this hit. I remember seeing this the next day. Probably my first memory of a disaster.

[@grapeshot]

Yeah I remember seeing a documentary on the Huntsville F4 tornado of 89.

[@maryc2562]

Excellent and educational. Your descriptions about shear and cape are among the best I’ve heard. Love your channel!

[@finn218]

This guy pays attention in class, you can tell. Another excellent video with superb explanations of the science, well done

[@CorgiNub]

I always look forward to your videos. I love the aesthetics of your visuals and you explain everything so well!

[@grapeshot]

All that car crushing reminded me of the Wichita Falls tornado of 1979 Black Tuesday.

[@tylerluna7651]

You should do a video on the 2011 Super Outbreak. It also passed through Madison county I believe it was an EF5. I just remember we didn’t have power for a week.

[@formerlyknownaseasrob]

Barnsdall of recent was also a lone supercell/squall line merger (might be mentioned in the video, gonna watch through in full later)

[@lucasjames7524]

Another excellent video! You deserve a million subscribers!! 🌎

[@pg1171]

A great teacher! I have learned a lot just from this video. Thank you for covering this storm. I had forgotten about it. Thank you from Central Alabama.

[@alabamared2568]

I've watched your content before as an Alabama resident you documented this event very well ..we again almost hit 2011 we did get hit a couple of weeks ago by line super cell it was mostly elevated untill it got to the far east side missing most of the city proper..also check out the new hope Alabama tornado video from April 27th 2011 that was a very well documented video of the days events including holt Alabama where moisture can be seen being drawn up from local creeks as the tornado was approaching holt.. great job sir!!!