Shortly after 7:30 p.m. on April 8, the outbreak's deadliest tornado cut a 31-mile-long (50 km), 3⁄4-mile-wide (1.2 km) swath through multiple Birmingham suburbs, producing damage ranging from F3 to F5 and causing massive destruction before lifting in the western limits of the City of Birmingham, just northwest of the junctions of Interstates 20, 59 and 65.

Debris from the tornado was scattered across central Alabama as far north as sections of Blount County, and extensive deforestation occurred along the majority of the path.

The tornado reached F1 intensity after it entered Jefferson County, and then rapidly intensified to an F3 as it crossed a stray outflow boundary, slamming into Oak Grove, an unincorporated town west of Rock Creek.

[6][4] The tornado continued to intensify dramatically as it moved northeast across the outflow boundary, reaching F5 intensity as it struck Rock Creek.

Many homes in the town were leveled or swept completely away, and the roof of Rock Creek Church of God's Family Life Center was blown off.

The tornado weakened slightly to F4 intensity as it struck the neighboring community of Sylvan Springs, where many additional homes were completely leveled, and four people were killed.

The tornado's effects were noticed around the same time by the ABC 33/40 Birmingham tower camera, which was pointed toward the western suburbs.

This was noticed during the long-form weather coverage on ABC 33/40, which lasted most of the evening;[7] the station, and several of its competitors, has a policy of pre-empting regular programming and broadcasting only severe weather information when a tornado warning is in effect for any part of its coverage area.

Another mother and her two children, despite taking shelter in their underground basement, were killed when hundreds of pounds of debris was blown onto them.

After sparing the many high-rises there, the tornado rapidly intensified to high-end F2 strength with 150 mph (240 km/h) winds, and grew to one-half-mile (0.80 km) wide.

The tornado finally weakened and lifted five miles (8.0 km) north of Lawrenceville, having affected over 5,000 homes along its path and injured ten people in Gwinnett County.