[1] 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.

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.

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.

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.

[6][7] The first violent and the deadliest tornado of the outbreak developed 1 mile (1.6 km) south-southwest of Ragland in St. Clair County, Alabama, at 10:55 a.m. CST.

With a 45-to-55-mile-per-hour (72 to 89 km/h) forward speed, the tornado first destroyed buildings east of Ragland before killing a woman on a campground west of Neely Henry Lake.

[8] Upon crossing the north side of Ohatchee the tornado threw a van into a ditch, killing a man inside and injuring three other occupants.

[18] Parishioners in the Goshen United Methodist Church apparently received no warning[19] while attending services and some were crushed to death as the walls and roof collapsed upon them.

[8] The second violent tornado of the outbreak developed in a rural area of Floyd County, Georgia, about 9 miles (14 km) southeast of Rome, at 1:14 p.m. EST.

Upon touching down, the .125-mile (0.201 km) wide tornado uprooted large pines and oaks while causing F0 damage to five or six homes of "mixed brick and wood construction.

[10] Thereafter, the tornado increased greatly in size and intensity as it passed between White and Rydal, with the first and only F4 damage occurring in a rural area 15 miles (24 km) northwest of Canton.

[10] It killed two people in a trailer along Georgia State Route 140 in Bartow County and snapped 80-to-90-foot (24 to 27 m) tall pine trees nearby.

[10] Henceforth, the tornado continued to weaken to F2 intensity and contracted to .75 miles (1.21 km) wide as it passed into Pickens County, severely damaging 10–15 chicken coops along with 20–25 homes of brick and wood construction.

[10] As it crossed near SR 100, the tornado produced major roof damage to a few homes and destroyed a pair of chicken coops.

After a visit to the Goshen site, then Vice President Al Gore pushed for further funding and expansion of the NOAA Weather Radio system, especially in rural areas.

This was accomplished through an expansion of private-public partnerships, primarily by the National Weather Service leasing or using donated tower space from entities such as TV stations, public utilities, and state government agencies.