EYE OF THE STORM: 4/27/11 Storm Chase

Saturday, May 7, 2011

4/27/11 Storm Chase

Here are 8 screen captures from video I shot on 4/27/11 of the Macon, MS tornado & an EF-3 tornado just north of Guin, AL. The Macon, MS tornado formed off the same supercell that produced an EF-5 tornado maybe 30 minutes earlier to our southwest. While it was no longer EF-5 strength when it got to us (with Michael Carter), it was still a strong tornado in my opinion. You could see horizontal tubes wrapping around/into the tornado. Before we even saw this tornado, debris rained on us for a solid 5 minutes or so, which was a very surreal experience!

It's hard to say for 100% certainty if this was a newly formed tornado from the same supercell or a weakened version of the previous EF-5 tornado to our SW. Personally, I agree with the NWS, as I feel like the EF-5 occluded/got cut off, and most likely a new tornado formed. This same supercell would produce a long track EF-4 tornado in Alabama. We followed this tornado towards Aliceville, AL, but lost visual. Michael and I actually saw another tornado later that day near Guin, AL, which is one crazy story in itself. I will eventually post a lot of video from this historic/sad day! Also, there will be several more chase recaps to come... Another beyond insane April chase day in the Deep South!

Strong tornado just east of Macon, MS... You can see the horizontal tubes wrapping around/into the tornado!

Another screen capture a minute later...

Getting harder to see, but it looks pretty decent on video...

There were several CG lightning strikes!

It's probably hard to see, but if you look just above the truck you see a black chuck of debris falling from the sky. The video will show this in much better detail, as again this was a very surreal experience! Lots of debris rained on us for 5 minutes or more!