Large tornado reported north of Tuscaloosa, Alabama(video)

[Brent]

SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
421 PM CDT SUN SEP 25 2005

ALC125-252145-
/O.CON.KBMX.TO.W.0141.000000T0000Z-050925T2145Z/
TUSCALOOSA AL-
421 PM CDT SUN SEP 25 2005

...A TORNADO WARNING CONTINUES UNTIL 445 PM CDT FOR CENTRAL
TUSCALOOSA COUNTY...

AT 418 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR...STORM
SPOTTERS...AND LOCAL TELEVISION WERE TRACKING A LARGE AND EXTREMELY
DANGEROUS TORNADO. THIS TORNADO WAS LOCATED NEAR LAKE LURLEEN STATE
PARK...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

ABC 33/40 Birmingham was tracking it live... it seems to have lifted now but it was LARGE before that.

[Brent]

2 injuries reported at a trailer park...

SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
427 PM CDT SUN SEP 25 2005

ALC125-252145-
/O.CON.KBMX.TO.W.0141.000000T0000Z-050925T2145Z/
TUSCALOOSA AL-
427 PM CDT SUN SEP 25 2005

...A TORNADO WARNING CONTINUES UNTIL 445 PM CDT FOR NORTH CENTRAL
TUSCALOOSA COUNTY...

AT 423 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR AND STORM
SPOTTERS WERE TRACKING A LARGE AND EXTREMELY DANGEROUS TORNADO. THIS
TORNADO WAS LOCATED 7 MILES SOUTHWEST OF SAMANTHA...OR ABOUT NEAR
LAKE LURLEEN STATE PARK...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH. THE TORNADO WILL
MOVE ACROSS NORTHERN LAKE TUSCALOOSA.

THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
SAMANTHA BY 435 PM CDT

DO NOT USE YOUR CAR TO TRY TO OUTRUN A TORNADO. CARS ARE EASILY
TOSSED AROUND BY TORNADO WINDS. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN THE PATH OF A
TORNADO...LEAVE THE CAR AND GO TO A STRONG BUILDING. IF NO SAFE
STRUCTURE IS NEARBY...SEEK SHELTER IN A DITCH OR LOW SPOT AND COVER
YOUR HEAD.

GET INTO AN INTERIOR CLOSET OR INTO YOUR BASEMENT NOW!

LAT...LON 3335 8772 3331 8764 3338 8751 3356 8736
3360 8752 3356 8765 3344 8770

[SectionOne]

Thanks Brent, I have relatives in Tuscaloosa County and I signed on the net to get more info. Confirmed on the ground....Stay safe everyone!

[Brent]

It's passing north of Tuscaloosa and Northport and the I-20 corridor... now going up into Rural Northeastern parts of the county. EMA reports it was skipping along the ground around Lake Tuscaloosa. I am not in the Birmingham market so the only way I can watch is the NBC 13 stream which keeps going out on me...

[SectionOne]

I'm south of there, so my local news is not covering it, but radio station 102.9 (sorry don't know if you can pick it up or not) has live converage..a tv station up that way has taken over the airwaves.

[Brent]

I'm south of there, so my local news is not covering it, but radio station 102.9 (sorry don't know if you can pick it up or not) has live converage..a tv station up that way has taken over the airwaves.

I'm about 100 miles southeast of Birmingham on the AL/GA line... still have yet to see significant rainfall from this.

[Weatherfreak14]

Do you know what is it rated

[wxmann_91]

Do you know what is it rated

Tornadoes are rated by the damage they cause since nobody can measure the windspeeds of a tornado, and to do that then experts have to go to the site of the damage and rate it. This usually takes a day.

[Weatherfreak14]

I know how they are rated.

[Brent]

Do you know what is it rated

Not yet... the NWS surveyed some other tornadoes today. Should know tomorrow or Wednesday.

[Brent]

http://beta.abc3340.com/static/weather/ ... 092505.wmv

Video of it... the file is VERY large, even for a high-speed connection(25 minutes to download here).

It's almost 19 minutes long.

Save it to desktop and then play it that way... it's amazing. The tornado was FIFTEEN MILES from the camera and was still clearly visible for almost 10 minutes!

[wxmann_91]

CNN showing some scary video of the tornado, here's some screencaps:

[Brent]

Only an F1 apparently... EIGHT tornadoes in the same area though... WOW. No wonder they are the tornado capital of the state. (December 16, 2000 F4 ripped across Southern and Eastern parts of the city of Tuscaloosa) and that's also where the F5 tornado that ripped across the suburbs of Birmingham on April 8, 1998 started. Just WOW.

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
730 PM CDT MON SEP 26 2005

*snip*

AFTER EXTENSIVE AERIAL AND GROUND SURVEYS ACROSS WESTERN TUSCALOOSA
COUNTY...AT LEAST 8 SEPARATE TORNADO TRACKS WERE DISCOVERED.
PRELIMINARY DATA SUGGEST THAT 2 F1'S AND 6 F0'S OCCURRED. FURTHER
REVIEW OF SURVEY PHOTOS AND RADAR DATA IS ONGOING AND A LIST OF THE
TRACK LOCATIONS AND FINAL RATINGS WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE TUESDAY
MORNING. AT THIS TIME...ONLY TWO INJURIES WERE REPORTED WITH THE
TORNADOES IN TUSCALOOSA COUNTY. ONE MAN REMAINS HOSPITALIZED. BOTH
INJURIES OCCURRED NEAR THE BUHL COMMUNITY. THE TORNADOES ALSO
AFFECTED THE LAKE LURLEEN AREA WHERE SEVERAL FAMILIES FROM LOUISIANA
HAVE BEEN HOUSED. NONE OF THESE TEMPORARY RESIDENCES WERE DAMAGED. A
SPECIAL THANKS GO OUT TO THE TUSCALOOSA POLICE DEPARTMENT FOR
PROVIDING THE AERIAL SURVEY.

[Weatherfreak14]

Man, that is a large tornado. It looks more like an f2 though.

[wxmann_91]

Only an F1 apparently... EIGHT tornadoes in the same area though... WOW. No wonder they are the tornado capital of the state. (December 16, 2000 F4 ripped across Southern and Eastern parts of the city of Tuscaloosa) and that's also where the F5 tornado that ripped across the suburbs of Birmingham on April 8, 1998 started. Just WOW.

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
730 PM CDT MON SEP 26 2005

*snip*

AFTER EXTENSIVE AERIAL AND GROUND SURVEYS ACROSS WESTERN TUSCALOOSA
COUNTY...AT LEAST 8 SEPARATE TORNADO TRACKS WERE DISCOVERED.
PRELIMINARY DATA SUGGEST THAT 2 F1'S AND 6 F0'S OCCURRED. FURTHER
REVIEW OF SURVEY PHOTOS AND RADAR DATA IS ONGOING AND A LIST OF THE
TRACK LOCATIONS AND FINAL RATINGS WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE TUESDAY
MORNING. AT THIS TIME...ONLY TWO INJURIES WERE REPORTED WITH THE
TORNADOES IN TUSCALOOSA COUNTY. ONE MAN REMAINS HOSPITALIZED. BOTH
INJURIES OCCURRED NEAR THE BUHL COMMUNITY. THE TORNADOES ALSO
AFFECTED THE LAKE LURLEEN AREA WHERE SEVERAL FAMILIES FROM LOUISIANA
HAVE BEEN HOUSED. NONE OF THESE TEMPORARY RESIDENCES WERE DAMAGED. A
SPECIAL THANKS GO OUT TO THE TUSCALOOSA POLICE DEPARTMENT FOR
PROVIDING THE AERIAL SURVEY.

This proves the major flaw in the Fujita Scale, if it doesn't damage anything the rating will be low even if it is powerful. Which is fine by me BTW. It has happened countless times this year.

OT here, I remembered a show where it they kept saying that the F5 was a storm chaser's dream. Well wake up, it has to destroy lives and property to have that, no storm chaser would want that!!! A tornado with winds of 450 mph that traverses through nothing would get a rating of F0!

Look at the pics and video posted, I highly doubt that this is only an F1.

[NorthGaWeather]

This proves the major flaw in the Fujita Scale, if it doesn't damage anything the rating will be low even if it is powerful. Which is fine by me BTW. It has happened countless times this year.

OT here, I remembered a show where it they kept saying that the F5 was a storm chaser's dream. Well wake up, it has to destroy lives and property to have that, no storm chaser would want that!!! A tornado with winds of 450 mph that traverses through nothing would get a rating of F0!

Look at the pics and video posted, I highly doubt that this is only an F1.

Looks can be very deceiving. And it would get an F-1 rating.

[TexasStooge]

WOW!

[P.K.]

This proves the major flaw in the Fujita Scale, if it doesn't damage anything the rating will be low even if it is powerful. Which is fine by me BTW. It has happened countless times this year.

Indeed which is why over here if no damage is done but it is known to have touched down it would be given a T? rating (Note we don't use the Fujita scale over here)

Wow, have they said how wide they found the path to be from the SI?

[Brent]

It IS quite a rural area. The only damage I saw on TV was to a handful of trailers and they didn't seem to be *that* damaged... I'm not sure, I'm waiting on the final report. I thought for sure it was at least an F2.

[wxmann_91]

This proves the major flaw in the Fujita Scale, if it doesn't damage anything the rating will be low even if it is powerful. Which is fine by me BTW. It has happened countless times this year.

OT here, I remembered a show where it they kept saying that the F5 was a storm chaser's dream. Well wake up, it has to destroy lives and property to have that, no storm chaser would want that!!! A tornado with winds of 450 mph that traverses through nothing would get a rating of F0!

Look at the pics and video posted, I highly doubt that this is only an F1.

Looks can be very deceiving. And it would get an F-1 rating.

F0 is the lowest rating. If a tornado passes through crop it could even get an F2, but I'm saying that NOTHING is even touched. Of course this example is unrealistic, but you get the picture .