Reoccurring Nightmares - The 1998 Birmingham F5 Tornado
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- Опубліковано 22 лис 2022
- Today we look at one of many violent tornadoes to hit Birmingham, Alabama prior to April 27, 2011.
Sources and further reading:
◉www.weather.gov/media/bmx/sig...
◉hazards.colorado.edu/uploads/...
◉www.weather.gov/bmx/event_040...
◉www.weather.gov/media/publica...
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Reoccurring Nightmares - The 1998 Birmingham F5 Tornado
There's something strangely calming about hearing James Spann's coverage, even on an event that happened almost 25 years ago.
He is a master at his craft
Ikr? Sometimes I just listen to his coverage of outbreaks
@@beezlebub3955 I thought i was the only one
@@DRLD224 haha nope! I love it!
You spann fans are weird AF. I find him repulsive
When this tornado occurred, I was living in a Tuscaloosa apartment, and remember James Spann warning how dire anyone’s chances of living if hit while above-ground. Spann, an exceptional meteorologist, was right. One of my husband’s employees was a volunteer firefighter/EMT for Oak Grove. He was tasked with recovery efforts, which he described as ‘gruesome.’ My son, who was born in Northport a year later, ironically is now a broadcast meteorologist himself. His inspiration….James Spann.
Meteorologists save lives!
It’s insane that James Spann covered this horrific tornado and 13 years later would cover another horrific tornado that went through Tuscaloosa and Birmingham. James Spann truely is one of, if not the best, meteorologists of all time. He not only does his job amazingly, but he says it straight, no sugar coating required.
I aspire to be this man when I eventually become a meteorologist myself.
2 years later he would cover an F4 that went a bit south of Tuscaloosa
Born and raised in rock creek. We were the only house left standing in our neighborhood. Saw things I'll never forget that evening. I'll never forget James Spann telling tonget into our safe area immediately. We were all crying and scared and my dad was on the front porch wanting to see it without any fear. I remember how quickly he changed when he said a cloud was blocking the lightning and realized that it was a tornado. He said it looked like a wall of wind you couldn't see past. He grabbed us all at the same time and threw us down the stairs into the basement.
He's lucky the lightning hit where it did so he could realize that. It may have saved his life.
Amazing story. Glad you all survived
That would be the only reason I would want somebody to throw me down the stairs. You are so blessed.
This was an absolutely horrible day for us. I grew up with Matthew Seale’s son that was mentioned, Nathan, and it was the first time I experienced losing a friend. Absolutely awful.
Man, I can't imagine having to go through that at such a young age. Thank you for sharing
I was a student at Samford at the time and while I was grateful we were spared, it was heartbreaking hearing about all of the loss. 😔
I'm so sorry.
I was one of the survivors in Edgewater. I made a decision that saved my life. I lived in a small home and knew this storm was going to be a monster so I decided to ride the storm out in a drainage ditch under the road. It was an insane moment in my life and my house was completely gone with only the foundation left standing. Btw, James Spann is the goat.
I was 8 when this outbreak happened, I'll never forget it. I grew up an hour northwest of Birmingham. It happened on a Wednesday, and my church took a group of people to Oak Grove high school to help clean up on Saturday. I remember hearing that one of the goalposts from the football field was found stuck upside-down in the ground a couple hundred yards away from where it had been. It was not quite at F5 intensity when it hit the school, but it was a direct impact. It's a miracle that nobody inside the school was killed.
Wow! Didn't know that detail about the goal posts. Thanks for sharing!
Same cannot be said for a certain tornado in 2013, Moore revolutionized saftey codes here in Oklahoma, I actually went to the middle school that had its gym nuked by the ef5 tornado
I was 14 and home alone. My mom had to work that night. A knew a guy who was kill that night hosting a party. Everyone in the house died.
I lived through this. I'm about 80% sure the house approximately mid-frame at 10:03 is my childhood home. The tornado skipped our house but took out (essentially) the rest of the neighborhood. Fortunately, our neighbors on either side weren't home at the time.
James Spann visited our school the following year and spoke on tornado safety. I distinctly remember him demonstrating super cells with a hula hoop like you did.
Such an incredible video; thank you tremendously for making this.
I was in Rock Creek, Al when that monster hit our church. I've never been so frightened and the aftermath was unbelievable. It was my first time to take out my parents new 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee. After climbing over rubble, I found it sitting without much damage. I've never seen that much debris piled, or house after house with only front steps leftover. I can still hear my fellow church members screaming to this day. So loud, the wind distorted their voices.
I grew up in Hueytown and had several good friends who lived in Rock Creek, Concord and Sylvan Springs. We had a punk rock band that practiced in Sylvan in the early 90's, and then I also played in a band out of Pleasant Grove in 96-98. If your church was the same church I'm thinking of, I think I remember dropping off boxes of canned food with my parents after church for a few weeks after the storm. We went to Valley Creek baptist, ourselves.
babe wake up, new weatherbox video just dropped
yes honey.
Did you make my coffee and breakfast first?
I agree
SIR YES SIR
OORAH
Here!
Life long Birmingham Alabama resident here 👍💕
I graduated highschool from Mortimer Jordan in 2001. A week after this storm hit Oak Grove we were playing Oak Grove at our home softball field and the weather turned bad, with the sirens going off. Those poor girls/fans started crying in a panic.
I remember this was "The Big One" before April 27th and I always was fascinated by the set up on that day. My father who's a Lt. for a fire department remembers watching it go by as he saw the power flashes as it chewed Oak Grove to shreds.
I always heard crazy stories that this monster did, from angels protecting the people in a church near Cottondale to more horrifying ones where people were impaled in trees. This F5 to me still beats April 27th by a lot. It truly was Hell on that night.
98 was so insane that this monster gets forgotten. Between downtown Nashville's F3 that spring and yes, even Pittsburgh being hit with an F1 in the summer. Truly crazy year for tornadoes.
Then again, Pittsburgh is a tornado magnet in Pennsylvania (not as much as say, Oklahoma City but it still is) and gets tornadoes every 5-10 years-ish.
Hey weatherbox, just wanted to say thank you for inspiring me to continue my education in meteorology. I currently just got accepted into the University of Louisville for geographical Meteorology.
Thank you for your content, it is super interesting and informative. Keep up the good work.
congrats, great job
Congrats Casey! You won't regret it, and if you do change your mind there are many other paths you can take that have similar prereqs
Warmest wishes, Casey. Good luck in your educational pursuits. Congratulations.
If you live and breathe weather, college will be a breeze. My son is a meteorologist, and absolutely loves his job. Wishing you lots of success!
Congrats, Casey! Warmest wishes and best of luck to you!
Many cities have similar tornadoes every few decades. Birmingham is probably the biggest example outside of OKC. Nashville also had eerily similar tornadoes in 1933, 1998, and 2020.
What I've noticed over time is that twisters stay out of Jones Valley, which is the densely packed central Bham. The twisters seem to trek outside the rail line that borders Ensley and Pratt City on the north and Red Mtn on the south.
Lifelong Jeffco resident here and yes, it's like Red Mountain stops inflow to storms or something. Also the tornadoes always hit the same spots don't they?
It's just coincidence, tornadoes do not follow topography, they are the product of atmospheric conditions from above. They can and will strike anywhere.
@@guydreamr Well, I guess those conditions seemingly happen outside of those boundaries I described. April last year I watched the radar (polygons) during a severe storm/tornado warning and it came up through Blocton, McCalla and Bessemer and seemed headed to Jones Valley. but it did a right turn at the foot of Red Mountain in Bessemer, passing through Hoover and then a small twister touched down in Leeds, ending there.
Every system I've seen south of Birmingham seems to always land a twister in Pelham or further south. Every north end system lands a twister in Forestdale , Fultondale, Coalburg areas.
We have the same scenario in Gadsden. Noccalulla mountain somehow interferes with the storms and they either go around us to the north hitting Reece City, Sardis, walnut grove and Altoona or they go around the south through ball play, rainbow city, Southside, and Ohatchee
This tornado ripped through my hometown of Sylvan Springs just east of Oak Grove shortly after wiping out the high school. I was born later that year and had always been interested in weather after hearing about April 8. Then April 27, 2011 occurred and I knew from then that I wanted to be a meteorologist, highly inspired by James Spann. I am also blessed enough to say I now work with James at ABC 33/40 as the weekend meteorologist so it is definitely a full circle moment!
I agree with what you said about a tornado nailing a a large gathering of people, I'm always worried about that happening to a music festival which would be worst case scenario, a field full of anywhere between 10k-100k people whose only shelter is gonna be their tents/vehicles anywhere closeby (some venues may have small buildings or something like that scattered around the grounds but certainly not anything substantial or large enough for everyone) I can't imagine what the scene would look like and hope it never does end up occuring
Great video. You talked about how a tornado might actually hit an event that didn’t heed a warning. During the 1983 Iron Bowl at Legion Field in Birmingham, Jefferson County went under a tornado warning in the fourth quarter as Bo Jackson scored the game-winning TD. The game wasn’t suspended. Fortunately, it never came together, but ABC recorded the heavy rain and winds as it hit the stadium.
I was a senior at Auburn and attended that game. It was flash flooding, lightning striking everywhere, the tornado sirens were drowned out by the sound of the wind. And we wouldn't have left that game for anything. I was soaked down to the bone but I wouldn't have missed that game.
Awesome video! I grew up in Tuscaloosa and was 10 when this tornado happened, I remember this night really well. It was a Wednesday night and we were at church, the sirens were going off so we had to rush home and watched James Spann’s coverages. A few days after we drove up to Oak Grove to see the damage and all that was left of homes were the foundation and all the trees had been stripped of bark. I’ll never forget that. Also, thanks for briefly touching on the 12/16/00 F4 in Tuscaloosa, that tornado missed our house by .25 miles, that’s the most scared I’ve ever been.
Thanks for sharing Ryan! Glad you made it out of the 2000 tornado okay
Our house was sideswiped by the December 2000 tornado missing the house by 100-150 yards. Still received blown down fences, tumbled dog house, broken porch window, some damage to my late Mothers car.
I was away @ Army Reserve drill in Hoover, drove up to Hoover early that morning in very heavy rain. Our PT test was cancelled because of it, & when I learned of the storm, called home. Couldn’t get through to home but to a backyard neighbor whose husband was my CGSC Instructor, she told me everything was ok. Figuring it would be next to impossible to get through & having to turn around to go back to drill, I didn’t come home.
Mom had returned home from shopping & was watching Spann on the TV when she turned to take shelter. @ that instant, the tornado hit; but she was uninjured.
This tornado is often forgotten. Same with the other F5 tornado in 1998 that occurred in Tennessee . But I’ve always wondered how it received it’s F5 rating because all
Of the damage photos it never showed F5 damage .
I felt the same way about the Nashville F5. I never knew it got that rating until years later, I always thought it was given an F3.
@@sharkheadism the downtown Nashville was a F3. The F5 happened in Wayne and Lawrence county Tennessee.
I think it had to do with the house foundation specificaly with its bolts in lawrence county
F5 at it's strongest even if it was ef5 damage to one house (or whatever it hits that is well built in ground) and ef1 the rest of the time. Pecos Hank has some great videos about this.
@@VASHtheSTAMPEDE_ no
Your thoughtful, rational approach to these videos is much appreciated. I really enjoy them, especially these "historic storm" overview-type entries. Can't wait for your take on the Parkersburg-New Hartford EF5 of 2008. I'm from that neck of the woods. Keep up the good work!
Thanks Andy!
I couldn't agree more.
Another great video! 1998 was quite the year for tornadoes
Thank you! I could do at least 3 more vids on 1998 alone
Love when Weatherbox posts. I stop what I'm doing and watch it through.
Thank you!
I trust James Spann with my entire life, his voice comforts me through every tornado season 🥰
I was too young to remember this tornado, but I lived in Huntsville, AL during the April 27 tornado outbreak and I would love to see you do a video about it! Love that you're spreading awareness to this. Folks in Alabama don't have a healthy fear of the weather. Keep up the great work!
It blows my mind that Dixie alley doesn’t have better radar coverage considering how deadly it is during tornado outbreaks. They need more radar sites for sure. I do think social media is certainly helping individuals be more prepared before & during the events though.
It's a mix of the NWS not having the budget to mass-build more radars and the radar sites in that part of the US being cost-prohibitive. West and Central Alabama are among the poorest regions in the US; Tuscaloosa is just north of there, and Selma is right in the middle of west-central Alabama.
We have a similar problem here in Texas. There's a major radar hole stretching roughly from Oklahoma's Choctaw Country down close to Houston.
Sounds like a good area for a trailer park 😂😂
i've never been so early to an upload. how terrifying!!! alabama has by far the most violent tornadoes ive ever seen.
This was my first tornado warning home alone. I lived in roebuck, just a couple miles east of the Airport. On the east side of Birmingham. I remember that day like it was yesterday.
All the video, you are very good at describing stuff for newbies like myself. Thank you so much look forward to seeing uploads
Thank you!
Great video!
I absolutely love the way you explain the meteorology in your videos.
One unique aspect of the tornado: This is only a handful of F5/EF5 to occur at night. For the most part, statistics show that if a violent tornado occurs at night, they are rated F4/EF4. The only other nocturnal F5/EF5's I can think of are Greensburg 2007, Barnaveld 1984, both Tanner events/Guin 1974, Lubbock 1970, Blackwell 1955, Udall 1955, and Flint 1953. Ruskin Heights 1957 touched down in the daytime and dissipated after dark.
As an amateur weather enthusiast, your visual explanations of different phenomena are absolutely on point. Thank you so much.
New favorite upstart UA-cam channel. Thanks for all the hard work. Fascinating videos to watch!
Why does it take so long for me to find this channel, years and years and years after being online. Fantastic content, well researched and totally great presentation. Thanks Steve. Immediately subscribed.
just got off a stressful day at work so this is absolutely perfect to unwind to :D thanks for all the hard work making content, seriously this is like the best part of my day so far lol
Clifford!
I’ve missed you and your videos so much! Watched thru them ALL so I was fiending for more of this premium content. Thank you ❤
Thanks for all the work you do into explaining the weather setup the leads to these extreme weather events. Your videos are by far the best produced, education packed, and most interesting out there. Have a happy Thanksgiving from this Canadian!
Thanks Joshua!
Great video. I'm a meteorologist and was living in Nashville during the 2020 central TN tornadoes. I'd love to see those covered in a future video.
Man that tornado destroyed the Soda Parlor... I loved that place. Thanks for stopping by!
@@weatherboxstudios Destroyed one of the Burger Republics too! I could see the power flashes from my apartment (I lived in a highrise in the Gulch just on the other side of downtown).
Your videos are the best man, you have that perfect combination of info, animation and the perfect voice/vernacular, I always get excited and look forward to a long future of your content
Thanks! Glad you enjoy
Weatherbox, I always learn so much about weather conditions every time I watch your videos. Thank you for not only explaining the conditions that cause these tornadoes but also explaining them in layman’s terms!
Thanks Nic!
Great work Weatherbox! I appreciate your insight on tornadoes.
you, mr. weatherbox, are a great feeder of my hyperfixation of tornadoes and storms in general. i love your techno music and visuals that you give, its very educational and amusing
Love the haircut, it looks slick! Thanks for the video, great stuff as always
Hey, glad to see the gradual polishing of your editing style over the last few months🎉
Your weather Videos are by far the best I’ve ever seen
You are a fantastic science communicator. That ball and tub of water explanation was so intuitive.
Hope you tipped your barber well. It looks great.
Also thanks for covering this one, pretty underrated.
Outstanding sweater. And thank you for the content.
Thanks Jay! Thrift store find
Another exceptional video, thank you!
i’m new to your chanel and I have to say this is great, subscribed
Happy Thanksgiving bud... thanks for the videos
You too Jim!
Very well put together video man.
your videos are so good thank you mr weatherbox for making my day
Thank you for watching!
My new favorite channel!
@weatherbox why not do the tornadoes of 2004. That year I believe has the record for the most tornadoes in a year in the US
Your right. There were 1,817 tornadoes in 2004. That's more then the 2011 tornado season.
Your videos are genius. Expertise enough for advanced meteorologists, but explained in a way that normal folks can understand.
Thank you! It's a really hard line to straddle but I'm trying my best
@@weatherboxstudios I’m no meteorologist but I know enough to get by. Since I was 5 years old atmospheric science and meteorology captivated me. I was too chickenshit to study it in school or become a meteorologist but that was always my childhood dream job. Keep it up man
I remember that day. I had moved back home to Birmingham after 20 years of living in Michigan. My apartment was in Bessemer -4 miles east of Oak Grove and 4 miles west of Alabaster (suburbs of B'ham) where two of the tornadoes went that night. The f5 went thru Oak Grove and an f3 went thru Alabaster. I was terrified. There were no storm shelters and no basements in my apartment complex. it was also Good Friday.
A great way to end the day. Thank you @weatherbox Steve.
Happy Thanksgiving all. 🦃
Hope you're doing well Adam!
@@weatherboxstudios
Thank you sir. I pray you're well. Enjoy this fair weather today, hopefully Erie can keep some clouds at bay.
I was in the 2011 tornado and I will never forget the doors and walls sucking in and out on me and it felt as if it was trying to come kill me personally.
I so appreciate your videos!
Thanks Ruth!
Such amazing production 😍
Great work dude!
Thank you!
Great video. As someone who was born in 91 I remember this all too well. Would love to see a video on the Blizzard of 92 that occured here sometime!
Another spectacular video.
I might take up meteorology as a minor… my brother studies it in great detail too. Recently subbed and enjoy your analyses very much! Well done.
Thank you! And I would if you're interested, it's worth it
The intro music plus the video earned an instant like, I haven't found someone who loves the same vibes!
Stuff like this makes me worried for my parents. They're deaf and most news stations don't do captions even during emergency situations. Especially in rural areas like where I live.
I was 8 and I lived in north Birmingham with my grandma when this occurred. I remember that the clouds were dark and ominous all afternoon. That evening we watched in horror as the tornado destroyed the local neighborhoods.
My grandma realized that we would soon be in the path of the storm. It was terrifying to know that an EF4 was only a mile and a half away and barreling towards us. Grandma put my 5 year old brother and I in a closet just as the power went out. We sat in the dark and listened to a battery radio. I remember hearing the wind and rain howling outside and a constant distant thunder. We were all scared, there was nothing we could do but wait and pray. Then it just dissipated. It was over in the blink of an eye and we were spared.
I don’t know if I would be here today if that tornado had kept on its path but I am thankful it didn’t. We were lucky but others were not. My heart goes out to those killed on that day. It’s a date I’ll never forget.
I didn't even know about this tornado Thank you for the video.
Can I just say I love the music at the beginning of all your videos?
Love your videos dude. Will you ever do one on the 2011 super outbreak and or the Joplin outbreak ?
Is this you on the Synth? Some of these intros are amazing dude
This channel is the best thing to ever come out of Ohio.
I will absolutely take than and run with it
Ay markipliers from ohio
Fantastic video!!!!🎉
Thanks Amelia!
My mom remembers the 1977 tornado (she lived in Roebuck near the tornado damage from that one) and I remember being chased home by thunderstorms on the afternoon of April 8th 1998 in Pinson on the east side of Birmingham. We went to Oak Grove in 2001 for a school function and I remember seeing brick steps leading up to nothing and limbless tree trunks still stripped of bark. The new high school was really nice.
Your videos are so interesting
Great job. I live in BHM and remember this well. I had friends who lived in Sylvan Springs whose home was flattened. They appear in the news footage at the beginning of your video. Of course, 4/27/2011 was off the scale… I hope to never experience that again. Thank you.
Love the fresh cut 🔥🔥
Thanks Kenny, I'll let my barber know!
nice. good stuff.
I'm glad a sweater from the event survived and you were able to wear it.
Pratt City (western Birmingham) have seen damaging deadly tornadoes (F5-F4, EF4) in 77, 98 and 2011, with a close call in the 1974 outbreak!! I was in all of them. Thx for remembering 1998.
Excellent and informative video.
Thanks Rodney!
You are such a great video maker. You also seem like a great guy. You have taught me so much about tornados. I live and grew up in the Pacific northwest. A few years back we had a F 3 blow though port orchard Washington. I would love if you could look at this tornado. It did damage to building's and neighborhoods. We had no warnings. I live about 8 miles from there. I will always remember how green the sky got. Thank you for making great videos
Thanks Maria! I will look into it!
I remember this night. We lived in Pinson at the time but moved to Concord a few years afterwards. You could still still the damage from Oak Grove years later- driveways with no house, steps to nowhere, etc. Ironically, Concord was hit by an EF4 on April 27th. Some areas seem more prone than others and get hit several times over the years.
I will never forget the 98 , 2011 , storm I have lived in the area my whole life , the 98 storm for me was particularly more frightening because the home I was living in and had just moved from a week earlier was totally demolished, but both storms will always be remembered
Thanks for posting this. I lived in Alabama and survived both those supercells!!
Best UA-cam channel!
Thanks for using the fish tank and ball to explain the energy release. I never understood that part formation before.
I love your channel SO MUCH. I’m a weather nut now.
You should look at the Plainfield, IL tornado. Only recorded F5 in August.
Hey 👋 I am new to your channel 🙂 I have subbed and liked the video greetings from Ireland.we are blessed here in Ireland that we don't get Tornadoes like you guys get we get small ones but not as severe as over there but with climate change we probably will get them in years to come.I love your content you explain how the Tornadoes formed very good 👍 keep up the good work 😊
Remember this storm very well. Oak Grove and the western end of the county got hit really hard. The April 27 2011 tornado followed a similar path as well.
OGHS student here class of 2000. Life changed forever that night.
I love your videos man,I also loved the background music you are using and I want to know the name of the music at 11:20 thank you so much
I bet this monster was similar looking to the 4/27 Tuscaloosa EF4. Nothing more panic inducing than a nighttime tornado. Tuscaloosa/Birmingham seems to be the "Moore" of Dixie Alley with the number of violent tornadoes endured.
Incredible video, but I have a slightly off topic question. What mic do you use for these videos? I've been trying to find a good mic and haven't been successful
So the transmitter/receiver is the saramonic Blink 500, but the lav mic is unbranded and works fine with it. Idk if I would consider it good, but it's adequate for my purposes
@@weatherboxstudios I've been trying to write documentaries/videos on tornadoes that are 100+ years old in some cases. I just need the recording and editing for it.
Steve’s ready with a fresh cut and a swaggin’ sweater. Always great content and helpful explanations for weather phenomena.
Can we get a video on the 1997 Central Texas outbreak? The Jarrell tornado is truly the stuff of nightmares.
You should make a video about the 1998 Kissimmee tornado outbreak, I'd love to hear your take on it