Tuscaloosa/Birmingham Area Tornadoes on Radar 4/27/2011

[Prouisorsapientiae]

The motion and appearance of this tornado reminds me of Andover, Kansas 1991.  I remember watching video of it on a VHS tape from The Weather Channel when I was a kid. It scared the hell out of me!

[Toadster0515]

Awesome forecast

[Txlonewolf85]

truly nature at its worst. remind me of the radar loop from the outbreak of 99 in OK. so many hook echos that i lost count

[jtoddel]

That's incredible. You can clearly see the "hook" that forms just prior to Tuscaloosa, and then that same hook echo passes just north of downtown Birmingham. What a monster storm.

[Prouisorsapientiae]

@jtoddel

If you look closely, before it hits Tuscaloosa, another thunderstorm merges with the mesocyclone. The rotation seems to weaken just before hitting Birmingham, and you can see a secondary area of rotation form to the west before becoming another strong tornado, and moving off of the map into Georgia.

[bigleague5]

@Prouisorsapientiae

yes the EF-5 cell eventually produced its own flanking cell due to the massive downdraft.