The date of November 15, 1989 is etched forever in my memory. It was the day of the killer tornado that moved through south Huntsville and took twenty-two lives and injured some five hundred others. It was a stark reminder of our “second severe weather season” in the Tennessee Valley and the south in general.
That day started out very mild and very humid. An approaching cold front was expected to produce, at the least, very strong thunderstorms. Here is radar from that day by early afternoon; 2:00 and 3:00 p.m.
Because the system had already produced tornado warnings in Mississippi and severe thunderstorm warnings in northwest Alabama, I decided to go ahead and begin wall to wall coverage on channel 31 at around 1 p.m. After a number of thunderstorm warnings in the northwestern part of our viewing area, and damage reports coming in to our newsroom from that region, our news department joined me in studio to begin what I believed would be a very serious weather threat for the metro area of Morgan, Limestone, and Madison counties…the most densely populated sector of north Alabama. Here is radar at 3:30 and 4:00 p.m.
It was 4:24 p.m. when the F-4 tornado touched down at the old airport and roared across South Memorial Parkway and right along Airport Road, then headed through Jones Valley. Channel 31 was able to stay on the air during and after the tornado thanks to a backup generator we had purchased after the ice storm of February 1985. Later, when I visited the disaster scene, light snow was falling behind this very powerful cold front.
While there was no local doppler radar at that time, channel 31 was able to offer a couple minutes warning after intercepting a police broadcast of a sighting from the academy located at the old airport.
Remember, November is our second severe weather season in the valley. We will keep you on top of such potential around the clock.
Gary Dobbs, Meteorologist / StormForce 31
I’m hoping that the NWS Huntsville don’t screw up like they did on April 4 (Colbert County tornado) when 1-the NWS tried to dismiss the law enforcement reported the touchdown, and 2-they also refuse to issued a Tornado Warning for that storm. Again hope that NWS Huntsville don’t screw up liked they always do.