The final numbers are in from Sunday’s tornado outbreak in Alabama, associated with the remnant circulation of former hurricane Rita. National Weather Service survey teams confirmed a total of eleven tornadoes: 8 of them in Tuscaloosa county, 2 in Winston county, and the other one in west Alabama’s Sumter county. Three of the tornadoes were rated F1 on the Fujita intensity scale, while the other eight were rated F0.
The most memorable tornado for us was the one captured live on the air during our “wall to wall” coverage Sunday, which lasted for about seven hours. This F1 tornado was seen live on ABC 33/40 for about 15 minutes as it moved across the western part of Tuscaloosa county. That same tornado was responsible for two injuries at a trailer park in Buhl. We made that video available on the Internet, and it has been downloaded thousands of times by people all over the world.
Our tower camera in Tuscaloosa has an amazing view of the western sky, and also captured the December 16, 2000 F4 tornado which killed 11 people in the southern part of Tuscaloosa county. That camera is located about 400 feet up on the old WCFT-TV tower, which is right by I-59/20 in the eastern part of Tuscaloosa at the old Channel 33 studio site. That is where I started my television career way back in 1978. Channel 33’s signal now is transmitted from a huge 2,000 foot tower in the northeast part of Tuscaloosa county east of Windham Springs, but that old tower has served us well with that camera being up there.
While September tornado events are relatively rare, we must remember we are coming up on our fall tornado season, in November and early December. Hopefully Sunday’s event will get us thinking about tornado safety!
The most memorable tornado for us was the one captured live on the air during our “wall to wall” coverage Sunday, which lasted for about seven hours. This F1 tornado was seen live on ABC 33/40 for about 15 minutes as it moved across the western part of Tuscaloosa county. That same tornado was responsible for two injuries at a trailer park in Buhl. We made that video available on the Internet, and it has been downloaded thousands of times by people all over the world.
Our tower camera in Tuscaloosa has an amazing view of the western sky, and also captured the December 16, 2000 F4 tornado which killed 11 people in the southern part of Tuscaloosa county. That camera is located about 400 feet up on the old WCFT-TV tower, which is right by I-59/20 in the eastern part of Tuscaloosa at the old Channel 33 studio site. That is where I started my television career way back in 1978. Channel 33’s signal now is transmitted from a huge 2,000 foot tower in the northeast part of Tuscaloosa county east of Windham Springs, but that old tower has served us well with that camera being up there.
While September tornado events are relatively rare, we must remember we are coming up on our fall tornado season, in November and early December. Hopefully Sunday’s event will get us thinking about tornado safety!
on September 29, 2005, 11:30 pm
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