2011 Super Outbreak (Blog Update #7)

The 2011 Super Outbreak was the largest, costliest, and the most deadliest tornado outbreak ever recorded. 175 tornadoes struck Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee which were the the most damaged states out of the whole outbreak.

In total there was 324 total deaths associated with these storms. Out of the 324 deaths, 238 were in the state of Alabama.

One of the main tornadoes of this outbreak affected Tuscaloosa and Birmingham in Alabama. The tornado was captured on a sky-cam live footage as it struck as it ripped through Tuscaloosa.

Radar reflectivity and velocity image of the supercell that produced the tornado and struck Tuscaloosa. Courtesy: NWS

Overall the event cost around $10.2 billion in damages. These type of outbreaks are called "generational" events meaning something like this usually happens every 40 years.