7 years since one of the worst tornadoes in Alabama history

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The evening of Wednesday April 8, 1998 was one of the worst ever in Alabama and arguably in the country. That evening at 7:53pm CDT a devastating F5 tornado touched down west of the city of Birmingham. Over the next half hour it would kill 32 people and damage or destroy hundreds of homes. More than 200 were injured.

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
540 PM CDT THU APR 9 1998

...PRELIMINARY TORNADO SURVEY FOR THE APRIL 8, 1998 TORNADO ACROSS WESTERN JEFFERSON COUNTY ALABAMA, JUST WEST OF DOWNTOWN BIRMINGHAM...

THE MOST SIGNIFICANT TORNADO TO IMPACT ALABAMA SINCE 1977, TOUCHED DOWN IN WESTERN JEFFERSON COUNTY AT APPROXIMATELY 7:53 PM CDT. THE TORNADO WAS PRODUCED BY AN INTENSE THUNDERSTORM REFERRED TO BY METEOROLOGISTS AS A SUPERCELL, A LONG-LIVED THUNDERSTORM THAT FREQUENTLY PRODUCES MULTIPLE TORNADOES.

IN AN AERIAL SURVEY CONDUCTED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGIST WITH THE HELP OF THE ALABAMA STATE TROOPERS AVIATION UNIT HAVE DETERMINED THAT THE TORNADO THAT RIPPED ACROSS WEST JEFFERSON COUNTY LAST NIGHT WAS AN F5 TORNADO, THE MOST VIOLENT TORNADO THAT OCCURS. F5 TORNADOES HAVE WINDS IN EXCESS OF 260 MILES PER HOUR. THE F5 TORNADO IS HIGHEST RATING FOR THE MOST VIOLENT TORNADO. THE FUJITA SCALE RUNS FROM F0 FOR THE WEAKEST TO F5 FOR THE MOST INTENSE.

THE TORNADO TRACK WAS APPROXIMATELY 21 MILES LONG AND AT IT'S WIDEST POINT WAS ONE-HALF A MILE WIDE. THE TOUCH DOWN WAS JUST SOUTH OF THE TOWN OF SCRAP, JUST INSIDE JEFFERSON COUNTY. IT TRAVELED EAST- NORTHEAST IMPACTING OAK GROVE, CONCORD, PLEASANT GROVE, EDGEWATER, MCDONALD'S CHAPEL, AND ENDED IN PRATT CITY. THE STORM REACHED IT'S STRONGEST POINT NEAR THE EDGEWATER/MCDONALD'S CHAPEL AREA.

INTERESTINGLY, THE TORNADO WAS ON A TRAJECTORY THAT IF IT HAD STAYED ON THE GROUND FOR AN ADDITIONAL TWO MILES THE HIGH RISES IN DOWNTOWN BIRMINGHAM WOULD HAVE BEEN HIT; FOUR MORE MILES AND THE BIRMINGHAM AIRPORT WOULD HAVE SEEN THE DESTRUCTION AS WELL.

THE LATEST DEATH TOLL WITH THIS STORM WAS IN THE UPPER 20S, WITH MORE THAN 160 INJURIES. MORE THAN 100 HOMES WERE DESTROYED AND MORE THAN 500 HOMES WITH SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE.

A TORNADO WARNING WAS ISSUED FOR JEFFERSON COUNTY AT 7:45 PM, GIVING RESIDENTS IN THE INITIAL TOUCHDOWN AREA 8 MINUTES WARNING AND PEOPLE TOWARD THE END OF THE 21 MILE TRACK 37 MINUTES LEAD TIME.

IN ST. CLAIR COUNTY, THE TORNADO BEGAN JUST NORTH OF MOODY AND CONTINUED ON A EAST-NORTHEAST TRACK FOR APPROXIMATELY 10 MILES. THIS TORNADO WAS RATED AS AN F2 ON THE FUJITA SCALE.

THERE WERE TWO TORNADOES IN TUSCALOOSA COUNTY. DUE TO TIME CONSTRAINTS, THOSE HAVE NOT YET BEEN SURVEYED. AN AERIAL SURVEY WILL BE CONDUCTED ON THOSE TWO TORNADOES ON FRIDAY.

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9 and a half minutes of coverage from ABC 33/40... the ONLY Birmingham TV station that was live through the entire event. After April 8th, 1998, all of the stations adopted a rule to go with uniterrupted live weather coverage for any tornado warning in their market.

http://beta.abc3340.com/static/weather/ ... ornado.WMV