I have been looking for coverage of the rainsville EF 5 ever since it happened. My power was twken out by the round of morning storms and never got to to see tv coverage of the event live. Good thing I had my weather radio on hand, was able to get warned. I remember being chilled when hearing "A large and extremely dangerous tornado was located near Albertville, locations in the path of this dangerous storm include: Geraldine, lakeview, Shiloh, Fyffe, Rainsville". The damage it did was terrifying. not to mention the 33 lives it took as it affected DeKalb county....
I remember April 27th 2011 like it was yesterday, I lived in Madison at the time near County Line Rd, I remember when the Hackleburg tornado came up on the tv screen on the Alfa Camera, the siren about two houses down from mine commenced to screaming not 2 seconds after the tornado was shown, I’m 23 now and I still think about that moment almost everyday.
I remember James Spann telling everyone it was going to pass over our town and then we heard yelling from the background and he looked right at the camera and told our town it made a u turn and was heading straight for us, we had no chance of getting out so we all hunkered down however we could. I sounded like a train was driving straight through the house.
Which town/which tornado? Tornadoes don’t reverse course typically, and thanks to incredibly strong low-level jet stream winds these storms moved in very steady, rapid fashion, at 45-60mph to the NE on this day.
I was in 2nd grade when this outbreak happend. I remember every single moment from that day. I even remember the day before, my dad telling me "we were going to have a very active weather day tomorrow Abba" (I wanted to be a meteorologist when I was little and am now in college for it). We lived in south Hsv at the time at the top of a mountain, and I'll never forget the clouds, the color they were, the sirens, and seeing a funnel cloud with my own two eyes. I'll never froget me and my family huddled in the living room with the power out listening to the weather radio, listening to the meteorologists. We watched news 19 usually, but we tuned into Brad that day because Dan Satterfield was in Antarctica at the time of the outbreak. What I remember the most was going to my nanas house in harvest, and seeing the damage along the way. The old piggly wiggly was gone, houses destroyed. It was my first time ever seeing anything like that and I haven't seen anything like it since then.
I was living New Hampshire with my brother at the time. My family and I are from north Alabama. They lived in East Limestone at the time. I remember my brother and I were watching this on the news and right after it happened, we were trying to get in touch with family. None of them had power and all the cell service was dead. We were so scared and worried for days of not hearing from them.
Note: WAFF-TV had already lost its radar when this EF5 touched down. Prior to the Rainsville EF5, the Hackleburg-Phil Campbell EF5 Tornado had ripped through Limestone County, Alabama (where WAFF’s primary radar was). It obliterated the radar dome and sky camera. Hence you can’t see the radar sweep on the screen. WAFF needed to use other radar stations to track the Rainsville EF5. WAFF would install a new radar to replace the destroyed radar in March of 2012.
I remember ABC33/40 had lost their primary radar that day, too. The morning's round of severe weather took it out. They ended up using the National Weather Service's Nexrad that afternoon, if I remember correctly.
This is so scary to see. Our family had just moved to Hartselle and I was finishing out the school year in Decatur when this day happened. I've watched the coverage of the Cullman and Tuscaloosa tornados many times. But I've never seen this one. I remember taking shelter from it. It was us and our neighbors in our tornado shelter (and my cat and their dog) Edit: I remember taking shelter at least 3 times, and when we weren't taking shelter I was watching the news. My mom tried to get me to watch anything else, but I wanted to be weather aware ig. I would get so nervous if she turned off the news, so it was easier to have it on (until we lost power lol). It was definitely a day I'll never forget, even though I was so young, and definitely something that pushed me to want to become a meteorologist.
Oh yeah, my dad was in one of the 2011 tornadoes that hit Cullman and Arab. there was nothing left in my house and Arab after it destroyed it all. My dad didn’t end up being miraculously OK!
I have been looking for coverage of the rainsville EF 5 ever since it happened. My power was twken out by the round of morning storms and never got to to see tv coverage of the event live. Good thing I had my weather radio on hand, was able to get warned. I remember being chilled when hearing "A large and extremely dangerous tornado was located near Albertville, locations in the path of this dangerous storm include: Geraldine, lakeview, Shiloh, Fyffe, Rainsville".
The damage it did was terrifying. not to mention the 33 lives it took as it affected DeKalb county....
I remember April 27th 2011 like it was yesterday, I lived in Madison at the time near County Line Rd, I remember when the Hackleburg tornado came up on the tv screen on the Alfa Camera, the siren about two houses down from mine commenced to screaming not 2 seconds after the tornado was shown, I’m 23 now and I still think about that moment almost everyday.
I appreciate these 4/27/11 coverage posts. I watched from the severe weather that morning all the way until that night.
I remember James Spann telling everyone it was going to pass over our town and then we heard yelling from the background and he looked right at the camera and told our town it made a u turn and was heading straight for us, we had no chance of getting out so we all hunkered down however we could. I sounded like a train was driving straight through the house.
Which town/which tornado? Tornadoes don’t reverse course typically, and thanks to incredibly strong low-level jet stream winds these storms moved in very steady, rapid fashion, at 45-60mph to the NE on this day.
A U Turn huh?
I was in 2nd grade when this outbreak happend. I remember every single moment from that day. I even remember the day before, my dad telling me "we were going to have a very active weather day tomorrow Abba" (I wanted to be a meteorologist when I was little and am now in college for it). We lived in south Hsv at the time at the top of a mountain, and I'll never forget the clouds, the color they were, the sirens, and seeing a funnel cloud with my own two eyes. I'll never froget me and my family huddled in the living room with the power out listening to the weather radio, listening to the meteorologists. We watched news 19 usually, but we tuned into Brad that day because Dan Satterfield was in Antarctica at the time of the outbreak. What I remember the most was going to my nanas house in harvest, and seeing the damage along the way. The old piggly wiggly was gone, houses destroyed. It was my first time ever seeing anything like that and I haven't seen anything like it since then.
I was living New Hampshire with my brother at the time. My family and I are from north Alabama. They lived in East Limestone at the time. I remember my brother and I were watching this on the news and right after it happened, we were trying to get in touch with family. None of them had power and all the cell service was dead. We were so scared and worried for days of not hearing from them.
Its still surreal watching these videos from the event
Note: WAFF-TV had already lost its radar when this EF5 touched down. Prior to the Rainsville EF5, the Hackleburg-Phil Campbell EF5 Tornado had ripped through Limestone County, Alabama (where WAFF’s primary radar was). It obliterated the radar dome and sky camera. Hence you can’t see the radar sweep on the screen. WAFF needed to use other radar stations to track the Rainsville EF5. WAFF would install a new radar to replace the destroyed radar in March of 2012.
I remember ABC33/40 had lost their primary radar that day, too. The morning's round of severe weather took it out. They ended up using the National Weather Service's Nexrad that afternoon, if I remember correctly.
This is so scary to see. Our family had just moved to Hartselle and I was finishing out the school year in Decatur when this day happened. I've watched the coverage of the Cullman and Tuscaloosa tornados many times. But I've never seen this one. I remember taking shelter from it. It was us and our neighbors in our tornado shelter (and my cat and their dog)
Edit: I remember taking shelter at least 3 times, and when we weren't taking shelter I was watching the news. My mom tried to get me to watch anything else, but I wanted to be weather aware ig. I would get so nervous if she turned off the news, so it was easier to have it on (until we lost power lol). It was definitely a day I'll never forget, even though I was so young, and definitely something that pushed me to want to become a meteorologist.
Oh yeah, my dad was in one of the 2011 tornadoes that hit Cullman and Arab. there was nothing left in my house and Arab after it destroyed it all. My dad didn’t end up being miraculously OK!
Do you by chance have the full coverage from the day? Plenty of it online from BMX but none from Huntsville.