Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2008

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 232, NWS Huntsville, AL

December 9, 2008Colbert County, Lawrence County, Alabama

NWS Huntsville, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Dec 9, 2008, 10:31 PM CST for Colbert County, Lawrence County, Alabama. It was in force for 44 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Dec 9, 2008, 10:31 PM CST (04:31 UTC)
Expired: Dec 9, 2008, 11:15 PM CST
In force: 44 min
Issued by: NWS Huntsville, AL
Area: Storm-based polygon

Counties Colbert County, AL, Lawrence County, AL

The radar

The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 106 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:35 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 4.5 hours before the alert went out and 175 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 167 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -33 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 741 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 336 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 421 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 3.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Huntsville, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Dec 9, 9:38 PM CST, 53 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 9, 9:38 PM CST, 53 minutes before

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

Hazardous weather outlook, Dec 9, 8:51 PM CST, 1 hour 40 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
851 PM CST TUE DEC 9 2008

ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-101100-
LAUDERDALE-COLBERT-FRANKLIN AL-LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-MADISON-MORGAN-
MARSHALL-JACKSON-DE KALB-CULLMAN-MOORE-LINCOLN-FRANKLIN TN-
851 PM CST TUE DEC 9 2008

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS
OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT...

SOUTHERLY WINDS OF 15 TO 25 MPH WILL OCCUR AHEAD OF AN
APPROACHING STORM SYSTEM...WITH GUSTS AS HIGH AS 40 MPH IN THE
HIGHER ELEVATIONS. IN ADDITION...SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL
OVERSPREAD THE AREA THIS EVENING. SOME STORMS MAY BE STRONG...
CAPABLE OF PRODUCING HEAVY RAIN AND BRIEF WIND GUSTS TO 50 MPH.

WIDESPREAD RAINFALL OF 1 TO 3 INCHES CAN BE EXPECTED THROUGH
DAYBREAK...WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS UNDER TRAINING THUNDERSTORMS.
PONDING OF WATER ON ROADS AND MINOR FLOODING OF LOW-LYING AREAS WILL
BE POSSIBLE WITH ANY PERSISTENT HEAVY RAIN. FOR MORE
INFORMATION...PLEASE SEE THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH /HUNFFAHUN/.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY...

AS THE COLD FRONT PUSHES EASTWARD...THUNDERSTORMS WILL EXIT EASTERN
PORTIONS OF THE CENTRAL TENNESSEE VALLEY EARLY WEDNESDAY. COLDER
AND DRIER AIR WILL FILTER INTO THE REGION ON WEDNESDAY.

ANOTHER STORM SYSTEM DIGGING INTO THE GULF COASTAL REGION...IS
FORECAST TO TRACK FROM THE NORTHERN GULF OF MEXICO AND THROUGH
THE SOUTHEAST STATES WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY. THIS WILL
BRING ANOTHER BATCH OF MODERATE TO HEAVY RAINFALL...WITH THE
POTENTIAL FOR A MIX OF RAIN AND SNOW THURSDAY.

UNCERTAINTY REMAINS QUITE HIGH WITH REGARDS TO STRENGTH AND TIMING
OF THIS PARTICULAR STORM. RESIDENTS ARE URGED TO MONITOR FUTURE
UPDATED FORECASTS AS THIS SYSTEM DEVELOPS.

.SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT...

ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL
IS POSSIBLE TONIGHT. SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT ANY STORM
DAMAGE OR RAINFALL AMOUNTS TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN
HUNTSVILLE.

AMP/DJN/JLL

In the hours before

Local storm report, Dec 9, 9:51 PM CST, 40 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
951 PM CST TUE DEC 09 2008

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0920 PM     TSTM WND DMG     RED BAY                 34.44N 88.14W
12/09/2008                   FRANKLIN           AL   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            REPORT OF POWER OUTAGES IN RED BAY FROM DOWNED UTILITY
            POLES.

&&

AMP

Local storm report, Dec 9, 9:57 PM CST, 34 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
957 PM CST TUE DEC 09 2008

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0925 PM     TSTM WND DMG     HATTON                  34.56N 87.41W
12/09/2008                   LAWRENCE           AL   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            A TREE WAS KNOCKED DOWN ACROSS HWY 101 IN THE HATTON AREA
            NEAR MILEMAKER 2.

&&

AMP

Local storm report, Dec 9, 10:00 PM CST, 31 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
1000 PM CST TUE DEC 09 2008

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0955 PM     FLASH FLOOD      CHEROKEE                34.76N 87.97W
12/09/2008                   COLBERT            AL   TRAINED SPOTTER

            REPORT OF DITCHES AND CREEKS FLOODING NEAR CHEROKEE.

&&

AMP

The office that day

Everything else NWS Huntsville, AL issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Dec 9, 8:44 PM CST	Flash Flood Watch	HUN	Colbert, Cullman, DeKalb, Franklin, Jackson, Lauderdale and 5 more	12 hr
Dec 9, 9:23 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Franklin	37 min
Dec 9, 9:29 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	HUN	Colbert, Franklin, Lauderdale	6 hr
Dec 9, 9:43 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Colbert, Franklin	47 min
Dec 9, 10:34 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	HUN	Colbert, Cullman, Jackson, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone and 3 more	9 hr
Dec 10, 12:08 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Cullman	52 min
Dec 10, 12:22 AM CST	Tornado Warning	HUN	Cullman	23 min
Dec 10, 12:43 AM CST	Tornado Warning	HUN	Cullman	32 min
Dec 10, 1:06 AM CST	Tornado Warning	HUN	Jackson	24 min
Dec 10, 1:12 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Jackson, Marshall	33 min
Dec 10, 1:14 AM CST	Tornado Warning	HUN	Cullman	31 min
Dec 10, 1:25 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	DeKalb, Jackson	20 min
Dec 10, 1:44 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	HUN	DeKalb, Jackson, Marshall	3 hr
Dec 10, 2:07 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	DeKalb, Marshall	23 min
Dec 10, 2:40 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Cullman	20 min
Dec 10, 3:18 AM CST	Areal Flood Warning	HUN	Colbert, Franklin, Lauderdale	6 hr
Dec 10, 5:20 AM CST	River Flood Warning	HUN	Madison	58 hr
Dec 10, 5:29 AM CST	River Flood Warning	HUN	Lawrence	3 days
Dec 10, 2:08 PM CST	River Flood Warning	HUN	Madison	16 hr
Dec 10, 4:05 PM CST	Flood Watch	HUN	Colbert, Cullman, DeKalb, Franklin, Jackson, Lauderdale and 5 more	23 hr
Dec 10, 4:07 PM CST	Wind Advisory	HUN	Colbert, Cullman, DeKalb, Franklin, Jackson, Lauderdale and 5 more	10 hr
Dec 9, 11:30 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	HUN	Franklin, Lincoln, Moore	6 hr
Dec 10, 5:15 AM CST	River Flood Warning	HUN	Franklin, Lincoln	14 hr
Dec 10, 5:38 AM CST	Areal Flood Warning	HUN	Franklin, Lincoln, Moore	3 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Alabama, 2008 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2008

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.