[MinivanDriver]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

Wasn't there an F-5 that went through Pleasant Grove in the late '90s? Birmingham is longer in a SW to NE direction (it's built up a lot to the south somewhat recently though), so if a tornado tracks close to Bessemer and near 20/59, it can do an awful lot of damage. Fortunately, so far they've been north of the highway and pretty much parallel to it.

One in 1998 and one in 1977.



The area that's pretty much a freeway for strong tornadoes is between Birmingham and Florence. If I lived in that area, there's no way I wouldn't live in a house with a really robust underground shelter.



I've heard people say that it's coincidence that the paths of strong tornadoes tend to be heavier in specific regions, but i think they're smoking crack.




Tornado History Project: F5 in Alabama


Tornado History Project: F4 in Alabama


http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com...Alabama/F3/map

[nalabama]

IIRC, it struck the Oak Grove community in Jefferson County also.
Quoting City-Data’s Pleasant Grove page:
“On 4/8/1998, a category F5 tornado 8.5 miles away from the city center killed 32 people and injured 259 people and caused $200 million in damages.”

[BamaDave]

Here is the track of the April 8, 1998 F5 tornado. It largely avoided the most heavily populated areas. It went just north of Pleasant Grove, but of course Pleasant Grove was devastated on April 27, 2011 by the Tuscaloosa-Birmingham tornado.

[RocketDawg]

Back to the original question regarding visible evidence of the 2011 Hackleburg/Phil Campbell EF-5 tornado. I drove through there this weekend on US Hwy 43. There is very, very little evidence of the tornado. Knowing that there was one that basically followed the highway from north of Hamilton through Hackleburg, you can tell that there's a lot of new growth forest, but you have to look hard to realize it. Without prior knowledge, you'd never know anything happened. I've never been any closer to Phil Campbell than Hwy 43, but presumably it's the same way there.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by BamaDave

Here is the track of the April 8, 1998 F5 tornado. It largely avoided the most heavily populated areas. It went just north of Pleasant Grove, but of course Pleasant Grove was devastated on April 27, 2011 by the Tuscaloosa-Birmingham tornado.

If that track had shifted just a few miles to the south, or even if it had continued without dissipating, it would have been overwhelmingly devastating.

[censusdata]

One website claims that the H'burg PC EF5 ripped the top of a storm cellar out of the ground

https://extremeplanet.me/2012/09/01/...-ultimate-ef5/