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TV meteorologist spent 10 straight hours on live TV during extreme weather outbreak

By Brian Lada, AccuWeather meteorologist and senior content editor

Published Dec 16, 2019 2:09 PM EDT

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On April 27, 2011, the southeastern United States was hit with a major outbreak of tornadoes. Meteorologist James Spann of ABC33/40 was a critical part of his station's 10-hour broadcast that day. This is his story.

One of the “largest, deadliest and most destructive tornado outbreaks in U.S. history” unfolded across the southern U.S. between April 25 and April 28, 2011, leaving more than 300 dead and billions of dollars in damage. April 27 was the worst day of the outbreak, particularly across Alabama, and the loss of life may have been even higher without the efforts of one dedicated broadcast meteorologist in Alabama who stepped up to the plate and did all he could to help save lives that day.

As the 2010s came to a close, AccuWeather revisited some of the most extreme weather events of the decade, highlighting the heroic people who carried out selfless acts during those disasters to help those in need. James Spann was certainly one of those weather heroes.

Spann is one of the most well-known on-air meteorologists in the business and has worked nearly his entire career in Alabama, dating back to 1978. In the decades of severe weather events that he has covered, the 2011 Super Outbreak has been one of the worst.

“We have a lot of tornado days down here [in Alabama]," Spann told AccuWeather. "The odd part of the event [was] the number of tornadoes and the magnitude of them. These weren’t all EF0 and 1. There were a lot of 4s and 5s that day. A lot.”

Before the 2011 Super Outbreak, three years had passed since the United States had seen an EF5 tornado, the highest rating on the Enhanced Fujita scale. On April 27 alone, four EF5 tornadoes touched down.

About five days before the outbreak, it became clear to meteorologists that April 27 would bring a significant tornado threat to the southern U.S., including a high possibility of violent, long-tracking twisters.

“Once we got within 48 hours, it was really obvious and we tried the best we could with all the weather enterprise to communicate the risk and the inherent danger of the day leading up to it,” Spann said. “Social media didn’t exist back then, iPhones were 4 years old, not as prevalent as" they are today, he recalled. "But all the platforms we had we tried to communicate the message.”

James Spann during his 10-hour broadcast during the 2011 Super Outbreak. (ABC 33/40)

As the sun rose on that dreadful April morning, Alabama residents awoke to thunderstorms already rumbling across the region with this first round of storms coming to an end around 10 a.m. CST. This was just the precursor of what would come later in the day.

After a midday lull in the storms, Spann found himself in front of the camera for 10 consecutive hours covering the tornado outbreak on ABC 33/40. The station covered the extreme weather for 18 hours.

“The afternoon and evening event cranked up about 2 to 2:30 and it was almost nonstop until almost midnight that night,” Spann said. “We are the producers, the directors, we handle everything. We don’t have anybody telling us what to do or who to talk to. That’s all handled by me on the fly.”

Spann’s tireless work on air that day provided the public with critical information about the severe storms, when tornadoes touched down, where they were located and where they were headed. This marathon television broadcast almost certainly saved lives across Alabama on that terrible day.

Tornado damage from the 2011 Super Outbreak
Twitter

“I was so busy that the magnitude of the day didn’t really hit me. I didn’t think about the historical significance of the day, I didn’t think about, ‘man, I’m working a historical day here,’ I missed it,” Spann said. “It didn’t really dawn on me until the next day when you realize how many tornadoes and how much damage, and how much loss of lives. It was just horrible.”

After the tornado outbreak came to an end, over 300 people lost their lives, 252 of whom were from Alabama. Less than a month later, an EF5 tornado devastated Joplin, Missouri, claiming the lives of 158 people. Because of these two events, 2011 went down in history as the second deadliest year for tornadoes in history.

“I know there’s going to be a day when we should celebrate the lives that were saved on that day, but I’m not ready to go there. I’m in the process of trying to memorize the names of everybody that died and that’s 252 and I want to have them all memorized by the 10th anniversary,” Spann said.

“You know these [events] happen about every 40 years, but like I always say, all it takes is one. If there’s one tornado and it comes down your street, that’s your April 27th, so I think the lessons we learn will help us be better for the future.”

More weather heroes:

Photo of encounter between officer and homeless man went viral
In ‘the darkest of times,’ this big-hearted man brought hope to his city
José Andrés, celebrity chef, emerges as one of the top weather heroes of the decade

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the number of consecutive hours James Spann remained on live television during the 2011 tornado outbreak. Spann was live for 10 hours of the station's 18-hour broadcast. Meteorologist Jason Simpson covered the other eight hours.

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