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Spatial and temporal analysis of the 27 April 2011 tornado outbreak in Central Alabama

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Abstract

This study investigates the spatial and temporal patterns of the 27 April 2011 tornado outbreak in Central Alabama. Disasters, and vulnerabilities to such events, vary across space and time. The 2011 Super Outbreak was the largest, most costly, and one of the most deadly tornado outbreaks ever recorded in U.S. history. In this study, the results of 29 documented tornado tracks (889 data points total) in Central Alabama reveal findings related to complex topography and its effects on tornado intensity and damage. The temporal patterns of this particular outbreak are consistent with other studies’ evidence that suggests a small peak in nocturnal tornado activity in the southeast U.S. These are a few of the many factors that contribute to tornado vulnerability in the Deep South.

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Notes

  1. USGS National Elevation Dataset: https://viewer.nationalmap.gov/basic/.

  2. NOAA Storm Events Database: https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents/.

  3. More information on the “hardened structure” can be found in FEMA’s publication, FEMA P-908, Mitigation Assessment Team Report—Spring 2011 Tornadoes: April 25–28 and May 22 (2012).

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and guidance to improve the paper. They would like to thank Dr. Graettinger and his group at the University of Alabama for providing data of the Tuscaloosa case study. Thanks to Jeff Smith for collecting NOAA data at the beginning of this project. This research was funded by the Jacksonville State University Faculty Research Grant.

Funding

This study was funded by Jacksonville State University Faculty Research Grant 2013–14.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Water Center, Office of Water Prediction, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 205 Hackberry Lane, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA

    Whitney Flynn

  2. Department of Emergency Management, Jacksonville State University, 700 Pelham Road North, Jacksonville, AL, 36265-1602, USA

    Tanveer Islam

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  1. Whitney Flynn
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Correspondence to Tanveer Islam.

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Flynn, W., Islam, T. Spatial and temporal analysis of the 27 April 2011 tornado outbreak in Central Alabama. GeoJournal 84, 533–544 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-018-9874-3

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