Alabama forecaster Gary Dobbs got the ride of his life from an F-5 tornado on April 27, 2011 Updated 8:22 AM; Today 7:32 AM Home of Gary Dobbs destroyed by the Wednesday April 27, 2011 F5 tornado as it came through Mount Hope, Al., taken Tuesday May 3, 2011. (The Hunstville Times/ Robin Conn) ORG XMIT: ALA2017042410132244 BN FTPBN FTP Facebook Share Former longtime Huntsville television meteorologist Gary Dobbs was on his Lawrence County front porch on April 27, 2011, holding his cellphone and telling his region-wide audience what he was seeing in the stormy skies to his southwest. What could have been Dobbs’ last words on that call – “I gotta go” – came seconds before he tried to outrun an EF-5 tornado heading straight for his house.