The Tuscaloosa–Birmingham tornado of April 27, 2011 was one of the most destructive tornadoes in Alabama history and a signature event of the historic 2011 Super Outbreak — the largest tornado outbreak ever recorded, which produced 216 confirmed tornadoes across the southeastern US in a single 24-hour period and killed 324 people.
The tornado touched down at 4:43 PM CDT in Greene County, Alabama, and stayed on the ground for approximately 1 hour 47 minutes, carving a path 80.7 miles long and up to 1.5 miles wide as it moved northeast at roughly 55 mph.
It passed directly through downtown Tuscaloosa — home to the University of Alabama — devastating multiple neighborhoods including Rosedale, Alberta City, and Forest Lake. It then continued for another 60 miles, striking the western suburbs of Birmingham at Pratt City, Pleasant Grove, and Fultondale.
The National Weather Service rated the tornado EF4, with peak wind speeds estimated at 190 mph. Some damage indicators in Tuscaloosa's Alberta City and in Pleasant Grove were consistent with the low end of EF5, but the surveyors chose not to upgrade the rating.
Doppler radar showed a debris ball — a signature of lofted debris being carried by the vortex — that persisted for the entire 80-mile track, an extraordinary feature.
Because of the massive scale of the April 27 outbreak, the National Weather Service had been issuing violent-tornado warnings all afternoon. Tuscaloosa had roughly 24 minutes of warning before impact — a substantial lead time. Despite this, the intensity and the number of manufactured and older wood-frame homes in the path produced very high fatalities.
April 27, 2011 saw 4 EF5 tornadoes and 11 EF4 tornadoes in a single day — a concentration of violent tornadoes without precedent in the modern record. Other major events that day included the Hackleburg–Phil Campbell EF5 (72 killed) and the Smithville, Mississippi EF5 (23 killed). Total outbreak fatalities: 324 over three days.
The University of Alabama and the city of Tuscaloosa launched a joint long-term rebuilding plan. Much of the tornado's path through Tuscaloosa has been rebuilt with wider streets, parks, and mixed-use developments, though the physical scar on the city was visible from satellite imagery for years.
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