The 1994 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak was the third notable US tornado outbreak to occur on Palm Sunday and the second to take place in the Southeastern United States. The outbreak produced 29 tornadoes from Texas to North Carolina, killing 40 people and injuring 491, and causing $140 million in damage. The deadliest storm of the outbreak, as well as in the US in 1994, was an F4 tornado that devastated Piedmont, Alabama. It struck the Goshen United Methodist Church right in the middle of the Palm Sunday service, collapsing the roof on the congregation and killing 20 people inside, including the Rev. Kelly Clem's 4-year-old daughter Hannah. Two other houses of worship were also destroyed mid-service. The supercell that formed this tornado tracked for to South Carolina.
Meteorological synopsis
The SPC started forecasting the outbreak on March 26, highlighting the risk of severe thunderstorms over the area that would eventually be impacted. They issued a "severe" forecast for most of the Southern, and some of the Mid-Atlantic states, forecasting "the potential for supercell storms, along with the possibility of tornadoes."
By the morning of March 27, it was apparent that a very strong and potent airmass had set up over the Gulf states, with the SPC issuing a moderate risk for most of Alabama, the southern half of Mississippi, and most of Louisiana in their morning outlook. The 6 AM CST (1200 UTC) 500 mb analysis showed a strong southwest flow of near 80 knots over the Southern U.S., while at the 850 MB level, there existed winds of near 50 knots coming out of the state of Louisiana. At the surface, temperatures in Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia were in the low 70's Fahrenheit, with dewpoints were in the upper 60's to low 70's. CAPE values at Centreville, Alabama were nearing 1,200 J/kg with no cap to speak of. A surface front left by rain during the previous evening was situated over northern parts of Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia.
By 9 AM CST (1500 UTC), thunderstorms and severe weather were not only occurring along the boundary setup by the rain from the previous evening in the northern portions of Alabama and Mississippi, but further to the south as well. At 9:18 AM CST (1518 UTC), the SPC issued a tornado watch for Eastern Mississippi and Northern Alabama. The storms then rapidly intensified, with tornado warnings being issued by the Birmingham and Huntsville NWS offices before 11 AM local time. Both the deadly F4 tornado that struck the Goshen United Methodist Church in Cherokee County and the Marshall County F2 twister formed at about this time. The SPC also issued a PDS Tornado Watch for all of Northern Georgia by 12 PM EST (1700 UTC), with the wording stating, "This is a particularly dangerous situation with the possibility of very damaging tornadoes. Also, large hail, dangerous lightning and damaging thunderstorm winds can be expected." Severe storms and tornadoes tracked into the northern Georgia region by 12:42 EST, and tornadoes continued to track across northern Georgia during the afternoon.
During the early-mid afternoon, analysis showed a very unstable airmass over the southern U.S., with CAPE values near 2,500 J/kg and SRH values of near 250 m2/s2 at Jackson, Mississippi. The 1800 UTC Centreville, Alabama sounding showed similar conditions, with CAPE over 2,500 J/kg and SRH values of over 500 m2/s2. This resulted in an Energy Helicity Index (EHI) value of 8.49, which is strongly supportive of tornadic thunderstorms. Based on these soundings, the SPC issued a High Risk for their 1930 UTC outlook, noting a rapidly destabilized atmosphere and winds being much stronger than what was originally forecasted. Noting the presence of a shortwave trough that was tracking into Mississippi and Louisiana as well as rapidly falling pressures in advance of a frontal boundary, the SPC issued a tornado watch for eastern Louisiana and central Mississippi, however, there were no reported tornadoes in this region on March 27. The SPC, seeing that storms were tracking into the Carolinas, issued a tornado watch for portions of the western and central Carolinas, as well as the portion of northeast Georgia not already included in the prior tornado watch. Tornadoes continued to track along this area from the mid-late afternoon, with an F3 tornado striking parts of northeast Georgia and the upstate of South Carolina, injuring 12, and another tornado along the border region of North Carolina and South Carolina injuring 13.
In Alabama, tornadoes continued in the central part of the state during the mid-late afternoon. An F1 tornado struck parts of Tuscaloosa County just after 4 PM. Funnel clouds were seen in Hueytown as a storm went over Jefferson County at around 4:30 PM local time. An F2 tornado was produced in Shelby County at 5:30 CST, damaging a high school and a residential neighborhood before destroying two mobile home parks.
During the cleanup from the F4 tornado that struck Cherokee County, emergency responders had to take cover as another funnel cloud was spotted just before 6 PM CST. The storms also produced hail up to in diameter and winds around . The storm system also left behind extensive flooding in Winston and Walker Counties, with $150,000 worth of damage done to roads and bridges in Walker County. The final tornado of the outbreak was reported just before midnight in Greenville County in South Carolina. The National Weather Service offices in Birmingham, Atlanta, and Athens did not stop issuing warnings until late at night on the 27th or early in the morning on the 28th, issuing 75 tornado warnings and 182 severe weather products overall.
Overall, the outbreak of March 27, 1994 was not as synoptically evident as some of the past outbreaks that have occurred, as there was no deep surface low or trough present for forcing in the area where the storms occurred, and many of the ingredients necessary that were the cause of this outbreak were not able to be forecasted until the morning of the event.
Confirmed tornadoes
March 27 event