10 Hours in the Tornado Path: A Meteorologist's Marathon Broadcast of a Historic Superoutbreak

On April 27, 2011, as the tornado Superoutbreak of a generation took dead aim at Alabama, ABC 33/40 Birmingham meteorologist James Spann knew his role as a broadcaster, and he didn't relinquish the airwaves for 10 consecutive hours that night.

Clad in his trademark suspenders, Spann was in thousands of living rooms during one of the worst severe weather days in the state's history. From 2:45 that fateful Wednesday afternoon until 11:30 that night, he stood in front of a green screen and anchored special weather coverage that would go on to define his career as a servant of the state he has always called home.

It was both the best and worst day of his career.

'That day, obviously, you suspend everything.'

There aren't many hours in an average day that Spann, 59, spends away from his job. Radio broadcasts, blog posts, visits to schools and nearly constant social media commentary – not to mention the weather broadcasts during the evening news – keep Spann occupied from the early-morning hours until very late at night. On April 27, Spann knew that if a historic severe weather event were to happen, the morning storms would signal how the rest of the day was going to go.

"I think that was just the atmosphere talking to us," he said.

(MORE: 17 Shocking Things About the 2011 Superoutbreak)

In Alabama, severe weather is a primary threat in the spring months because the state sits squarely within the borders of Dixie Alley  – a region where large, violent tornadoes can spin up year-round. Residents of Dixie Alley keep their guard up all year for twisters, but in March and April, Alabama's weather forecasters are ready to go into severe weather mode at a moment's notice.

“If there’s a tornado warning in a TV market area … we just go on and stay on," said Spann. "It doesn’t matter if it’s 80 miles away, and it doesn’t matter if there’s no [Nielsen ratings] diaries or meters in the county, we go on and stay on.”

On April 27, that vow would be put to the test for hours.

'This is a very rare day; maybe a once-in-a-career-type day.'

Spann uttered that statement at 5:21 p.m. CDT on April 27, 2011, as an EF4 tornado tore through Tuscaloosa. A camera perched atop a building captured the entire event, save for a few moments when strong winds rendered it powerless.

During the live broadcast, Spann's voice was the soundtrack to a terrifying tragedy. As he called out streets and landmarks near the twister's path, the video showed the tornado lofting pieces of homes and other debris into the air. It was all playing out in horrifying detail before an audience of thousands.

"There’s no book, there’s no manual on how to do anything like that," he said. "You just do the best you can."

The 2011 Superoutbreak would spawn 363 tornadoes that killed 321 people across the South – a ratio of nearly one death per tornado. In Alabama, there were 62 twisters and 252 deaths, so each tornado in Spann's state would kill four people on average. It's a number that still haunts Spann to this day.

“I don’t know if we were good that day, I don’t know if we were bad," he said. "My opinion? I think it was our finest day, and it was our worst day. The death toll in my state that day was 252, and that’s absolutely inexcusable for anybody in the weather enterprise and anybody in the public.”

'You look at your co-workers in silence.'

It takes a good co-pilot to pull off a successful marathon broadcast, and that's where Jason Simpson came in. The pair had worked together at ABC 33/40 for years, and on April 27, they'd be in lock-step for hours as they attempted to keep residents safe from the storms.

Simpson anchored the morning coverage during the first round of storms before a brief pause in the action early in the afternoon. While Spann ate lunch, preparing for the afternoon broadcast, Simpson addressed the newsroom, giving them a harsh truth: it was likely to be a long, deadly night. It was a moment Simpson still can't recount without getting choked up.

During a broadcast, however, there's no time for emotion, Spann and Simpson both said. There's too much data to juggle and too much information to relay. Even in the midst of the worst weather event they've covered in their careers, the magnitude didn't sink in until days later.

Despite the feeling that they did their best work on April 27, Simpson will never have fond memories of that day.

Simpson has since moved on from ABC 33/40 and is now the chief meteorologist at WHNT-TV in Huntsville, Alabama.

'I consider it a failure in many different ways.'

When Spann looks back on the Superoutbreak of 2011, he's fully aware it's an event that will define his career when all is said and done. While the 252 deaths in his state are something he can't get over, Spann still believes there will eventually be a day when they'll be able to celebrate all the lives that were saved by strong forecasting and timely communication as threats turned into reality.

That day has yet to come for him because of all the loss and grief created by those twisters on April 27, 2011.

"When we look back at it, the work we did was very good," Simpson said. "James was in top form, crystal clear, and juggled it all as well as he ever has. It very well may have been his best on-air presentation of his career."

About a week after the outbreak, Spann joined fathers and children from his son's high school baseball team as they trekked to northern Alabama to help rural victims clean up and rebuild. The big cities had plenty of help; Spann and the others in the group were looking to lend a hand in places where aid had yet to arrive.

In the years that followed, Spann has met with countless survivors, as well as the families of the victims, to learn their stories. He wanted to learn why these people were so special to their loved ones and communities. It helped him better understand the scope of pain the Superoutbreak caused, but it also gave him a chance to gain an even more intimate relationship with the people he served for 10 hours on April 27.

The wounds are deep, but eventually, they will heal, Spann said.

"The people that are still hurting," he added. "It’s just stunning, even after five years."

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