The recent severe weather outbreaks brought back some memories of this historic event. I remember sitting in class at the University of North Georgia on the morning of April 27, 2011.
I couldn’t concentrate on the schoolwork. My mind raced with thoughts of the weather briefings and models I had been reading for the previous days. I was still a budding young forecaster then, and while this wasn’t my first go around with forecasting tornadoes, it was certainly the biggest risk I had ever seen. In fact, it was the biggest risk many had ever seen. Not since 1974 had the southeastern U.S. been under the gun as badly as it was on that fateful day. My love for the weather was no secret to my professors, and as I sat in Dr. Robert Fuller’s class, I recall him asking me what I thought was going to happen. My reply? “Nothing good.” Little did I know how right that would be.
The day started early for forecasters as a strong line of storms pushed east across Alabama and much of Tennessee. This line would stay mostly below severe limits as it moved across the far northern parts of our state, but it did considerable damage over much of Alabama. The trend of Alabama taking the brunt would continue through the rest of the day…