SPC's convective outlook for Wednesday April 27. High risk is very rarely issued. This version was issued very early on, and the target area would later move more to the East.
This is the weather discussion taken directly from the National Weather Service office in Birmingham, AL. It clearly points out how dangerous the weather pattern was during the day and advised people to pay attention and take shelter.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 636 PM CDT WED APR 27 2011 ...SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK ONGOING... .UPDATE...AVIATION DISCUSSION. .DISCUSSION... A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION IS CURRENTLY UNFOLDING ACROSS CENTRAL ALABAMA...AND SUPERCELLS HAVE ERUPTED ACROSS THE NORTHERN AND WESTERN SECTIONS OF THE CWA THIS AFTERNOON. A FEW TORNADOES HAVE ALREADY TOUCHED DOWN...AND REPORTS OF MAJOR DAMAGE ARE STARTING TO COME IN. THE 18Z SPECIAL SOUNDING THAT WAS PERFORMED PRESENTS A DESTRUCTIVE SETUP...WITH 2700J/KG OF CAPE...EXTREMELY STEEP LAPSE RATES...AND DRY AIR ALOFT. 0-3 KM HELICITY VALUES ARE ALMOST 700. THE PARAMETERS WILL ONLY WORSEN AS WE GO THROUGHOUT THE REST OF THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THE TIME FRAME FOR THE WORST SEVERE WEATHER WILL PERSIST THROUGH THE EARLY AFTERNOON HOURS FOR NORTHWEST SECTIONS OF THE STATE...ROUGHLY FROM 2PM TO 8PM...CENTRAL PORTIONS OF THE STATE...INCLUDING THE BIRMINGHAM METRO AREA...FROM 4PM TO 10PM...AND THE SOUTHEAST SECTIONS FROM 6PM TO 2AM. I CANNOT STRESS HOW SERIOUS THIS SITUATION IS. DO WHATEVER YOU CAN TO PROTECT YOUR LIFE AND PROPERTY NOW...YOUR LIFE MAY DEPEND ON IT! ALL WEATHER WILL CLEAR THE AREA AFTER 6Z TONIGHT...SO THE CLEANUP PROCESS CAN BEGIN.
There were over 180 tornado reports and just over 300 people that died in this deadly day of storms. Thoughts and prayers are with all those that are affected. The survey teams are still ongoing and checkingout every detail of the days of these storms.
