Skywarn teams went into action during the early afternoon hours and were on the air more than ten hours later, continuing to relay reports of storm damage, hail, injuries and relief operations. Skywarn nets were on the air across much of the northern half of Alabama, including Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Talladega, Gadsden, Huntsville and other areas.

One of the busiest centers of action was the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Birmingham, which issues warnings for the northern two thirds of the state.

Members of the Alabama Emergency Response Team (ALERT) were activated during the afternoon when tornado watches were issued for northwest and south Alabama. Net Control teams began relaying severe weather reports from across the northern half of the state to Birmingham forecasters. The strongest storms erupted quickly and violently during the early evening, producing tornadoes, deaths and damage across a large part of central Alabama.

At one point, fourteen Alabama counties were under tornado warnings at the same time.

At least one death was reported when a large tornado hit a residential area in the Edgewater community west of downtown Birmingham. At least 150 homes were damaged or destroyed, according to reports from the Edgewater and Maytown areas, and two fire stations were reported destroyed. An elementary and high school were heavily damaged. Power was knocked out to 20,000 customers.

In the nearby Sylvan Springs community, cars were overturned and many roads were blocked by trees. One car was spun into the air and landed 200 feet away. Police issued a plea to stay away from the affected areas so that rescue crews could work unhampered.

The tornado was also blamed on causing heavy damage in western Tuscaloosa and St. Clair counties.

In St. Clair county, east of Birmingham, unconfirmed reports indicated at least two deaths with scores of injuries from tornado or storm damage.

In Birmingham, amateur radio operators were asked to provide communications assistance at shelters set up for residents who lost their homes in addition to staffing the Weather Service.

Numerous repeaters throughout west, central and east Alabama were pressed into service, providing emergency communications. In the Birmingham area alone, at least five VHF and UHF repeaters were being used for emergency messages. Repeaters were busy with disaster relief and shelter information well past midnight, nearly twelve hours after storms began pounding the state.

Scores of supercell thunderstorms erupted during the evening, dumping hail, triggering severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings and causing damage across a large part of central Alabama. At least two churches were hit, including one that was occupied for a Wednesday evening service. People attending the service heard the warning and sought shelter in a hallway just seconds before the tornado hit. The church sustained heavy damage with adults and children suffering what were believed to be non life-threatening injuries. Television reports from the scene showed children and adults with bloody faces being carried to ambulances.

One of the first reports of the Birmingham tornado came from ALERT member Mark Parmley, WA4UHC. Parmley was on the air reporting the touchdown just moments after it occurred to Skywarn Net Controls at the National Weather Service.

Weather Service officials praised the response and information radio amateurs relayed. "They were absolutely great," said Brian Peters, WD4EPR, a Weather Service meteorologist. "We couldn't have done it without them."

Peters said radio amateurs relayed numerous excellent severe weather reports. Many of the reports the Weather Service received came from radio amateurs first and then from other sources, Peters said.

Forecasters tracked the supercell thunderstorm that caused the Birmingham tornado as it moved from Mississippi across Alabama to the Georgia line, Peters said. The storm was blamed for damage in Tuscaloosa, Jefferson and St. Clair counties.

The Weather Service issued dozens of tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings during the afternoon and evening. At one point, shoppers at a mall just south of Birmingham reported a funnel cloud directly overhead.

The Weather Service was itself praised for its handling of the severe weather outbreak by issuing warnings early enough to allow citizens to take shelter.