In the middle of the afternoon on Thursday, March 26, 2021, a tornadic thunderstorm sliced across north-central Alabama, spewing numerous twisters across more than 100 miles. It blew in south of Tuscaloosa and whipped east and south of Birmingham, leaving death and destruction behind.

This was a supercell storm.

The frequency of the powerful storm outbreaks is increasing in the United States, according to research published in Science.

Supercell storms, to many people, are a new phenomenon. But emergency responders have been wrestling with them for decades. The first storm to be labeled as such was the Wokingham storm over England, in 1962.

“The term has been around for over 60 years and supercell storms are basically a large thunderstorm with something extra,” said Brian Hastings, director of the Alabama Emergency Management Agency.

That ‘extra’, he said is, “a certain amount of sheer and energy and a prolonged updraft that creates this huge thunderstorm with very warm unstable air. That provides just enough energy to allow this thing to build.”

Hastings said, “The more height and power you get in these storms, the greater the proclivity to produce large winds, hail or, in some cases, tornadoes.”

The area of the U.S. called “Tornado Alley” includes Oklahoma, Kansas, and other flat regions of the central part of the country. It’s located east of the Rockies and close to the Mississippi River.

Hastings said, despite that area’s designation, the most death and destruction from tornadoes take place in Alabama.

“We’re really concerned about this because if you look at the tornado data in deaths, Alabama is number one in total deaths, Alabama is number one in annual deaths and the greatest number of very large powerful storms –EF2s and above and EF4s and above –occur in a region closer to the deep south.”

Preparing for storms

Every storm is different, even though some may behave similarly. Hastings suggested that responding to a disaster requires a certain amount of precision and that only comes from practice, familiarity with the team and solid communications.

“We have winter storm exercises, hurricane exercises and severe weather exercises. So, throughout the year, whether we have storms or not, we’re testing our systems and our connectivity.”

It happens, according to Hastings, “on the front side, getting people together and talking, during the activation or exercise of an event and on the backside with after-action reports.

Information he said, “comes in to us, we analyze it and then get it to where it needs to go for action and mobilization. Then we figure out who needs what and where it’s needed”.

He added that none of their planning would work without effective communication.

“Communications is the key to everything we do. Without our networks and our communication, we have nothing.”

To connect effectively, he said the technology they use, needs to be reliable.

“The tsunami and volcano eruption in Tonga is a great example of if you are not connected, you are not connected. Silence is not golden. Just because you are not hearing anything from someone, doesn’t mean they are ok.”

‘Our best offense sometimes is a good defense’

Hastings said, in addition to their equipment, planning and expertise, there are two other key elements that they need –people and the private sector.

Referring to the citizens of Alabama, Hastings said, “Our best offense sometimes is a good defense. The more information you can give people to move them to mobilize and minimize their exposure to the threat, the less likely they are to be exposed to the threat.”

And having a solid connection to the resources in the private sector completes their ability to meet their mission.

“We don’t do anything as well as the private sector does it. They do logistics well, the supply well, they have all this infrastructure. We’re the government and we bring people together. So what we’re trying to do is incorporate our supply chain into our response and recovery,” Hastings said.

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