Ten Years Ago
It was like it happened yesterday. A warm balmy day, nine days before Christmas in 2000.
The account below is from Bill Murray.
December 16, 2000 was a Saturday. We were finishing up our Christmas shopping, as were a lot of folks. There was a threat of severe weather, with the Storm Prediction Center issuing a Slight Risk Outlook for much of the Southeast. A very strong upper level trough was approaching the South, with an intensifying low pressure system to our west. A powerful Arctic front was poised to move in from the northwest. Very strong wind shear was forecast to be in place. The only question was how much instability could move into Alabama ahead of the low. It looked like the values would be best well to the south, over Southeast Alabama.
By the 7 a.m. Convective Outlook, things were looking more ominous, with Alabama included in a Moderate Risk zone and the discussion tending to more serious with more instability, impressive helicities and the likelihood of supercell tornadoes.
We decided to head out early on the shopping trail, but asked my eleven year old Nick to monitor the WeatherRadio and let me know when the tornado watch was issued. (This was the day before E-Warn and PDAs.) That call came around 10:00 a.m. Turns out the watch was a PDS (Particularly Dangerous Situation Watch, which was a little less common back then, so you knew it really meant business.)
The supercell storm that produced the major tornado was tracked by radar as it moved rapidly across West Alabama and warnings were issued well in advance of the touchdown, which occurred at 12:54 p.m. I watched in amazement along with tens of thousands of ABC 33/40 viewers as a camera mounted on the station’s Tuscaloosa broadcast tower clearly showed the tornado chewing across the landscape. Meanwhile, John Oldshue was in the chase van. He and his photographer Cyril Samonte took cover in the Hampton Inn Cottondale as the twister passed between them and the JVC Plant spinning the van several times and blowing out the windows. The unit measured a wind speed of 170 mph on its van-mounted wind equipment.
The unusually strong December tornado killed eleven people and injuring dozens as it tore an 18 mile path across the southeast part of Tuscaloosa, doing the brunt of its killing in the Englewood Community. The F4 tornado was the third deadliest December tornado in recorded U.S. history, and the deadliest December tornado since 1953. At least 400 homes and businesses were heavily damaged or destroyed by the tornado.
Another person died in a separate tornado that tore through Geneva earlier in the morning. Adding insult to injury, light snow fell across a large portion of central Alabama after the storm as temperatures tumbled from the 70s into the 20s overnight.
Category: Met 101/Weather History
About the Author (Author Profile)
James Spann is one of the most recognized and trusted television meteorologists in the industry. He holds the AMS CCM designation and television seals from the AMS and NWA. He is a past winner of the Broadcast Meteorologist of the Year from both professional organizations.Subscribe
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