Alert archive / Alabama / Flash Flood Warnings in 2013

Flash Flood Warning 31, NWS Huntsville, AL

July 31, 2013Lawrence County, Limestone County, Morgan County, Alabama

NWS Huntsville, AL issued this flash flood warning at Jul 31, 2013, 3:54 AM CDT for Lawrence County, Limestone County, Morgan County, Alabama. It was in force for 3 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jul 31, 2013, 3:54 AM CDT (08:54 UTC)
Expired: Jul 31, 2013, 6:45 AM CDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Huntsville, AL
Area: Storm-based polygon
Flood severity: None

Counties Lawrence County, AL, Limestone County, AL, Morgan County, AL

The radar

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 96 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 08:57 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, 8.9 hours before the alert went out and 159 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: 1962 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1240 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 11 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 48 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 1.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this flash flood 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 flash flood warning went out at Jul 31, 2:32 AM CDT, 1 hour 22 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 31, 2:32 AM CDT, 1 hour 22 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
232 AM CDT WED JUL 31 2013

.DISCUSSION...
A HIGH PW AIRMASS OF 2.0-2.5 INCHES WAS HELPING TO PRODUCE TROPICAL
OBSERVED RAIN RATES OF 0.2-0.3 INCHES IN 10 MINUTES WITH THE LATEST
CLUSTER OF SHRA/TSRA MOVING THRU THE HSV AREA. THIS IS IN ASSOCIATION
WITH A SHORTWAVE AND UPPER LEVEL DRY SLOT TRANSLATING ESEWD THIS
MORNING AS SEEN ON WATER VAPOR IMAGERY. THIS ALONG WITH A WING OF
THETA-E ADVECTION AND MOISTURE TRANSPORT WAS AIDING THE INITIAL N-S
BATCHES OF SHRA/STORMS. A RIBBON OF DEEP MOISTURE CONVERGENCE WAS
SITUATED ACROSS TN WWD INTO AR AND WAS INITIATING FURTHER CONVECTIVE
DEVELOPMENT, ESPECIALLY IN AR. MID LEVEL CIGS WERE WIDESPREAD ACROSS
THE REGION GIVEN THE TROPICAL MOISTURE IN PLACE WITH PWS UPSTREAM
ALONG THE AND AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT IN THE 2.0-2.4 INCH RANGE. LOW
CLOUDS WILL TEND TO DEVELOP EASILY TODAY DURING AND AFTER RAIN
EPISODES AS WELL.  THE CLOUDS WILL LIMIT HEATING AND SFC
DESTABILIZATION, SO THE THREAT OF SEVERE STORMS APPEARS LIMITED, BUT
GIVEN THE RAIN RATES WE ARE SEEING CURRENTLY, WE WILL MENTION HEAVY
RAINFALL IN THE FORECAST/HWO. FORTUNATELY, STORM MOTIONS WILL LIMIT
RAIN DURATIONS. WE COULD SEE LOCALIZED FLASH FLOODING, BUT PROBABLY
NOT WIDESPREAD ENOUGH TO ISSUE AN FFA AT THIS POINT.

WILL CARRY LIKELY POPS AREAWIDE, WITH THE HIGHEST CHC OVER SRN TN.
WILL STAY NEAR THE COOLER MET GUIDANCE TODAY AS A RESULT OF THE
CLOUDS AND RAINFALL. THE COLD FRONT WILL PUSH THRU THE AREA TONIGHT
AFT 06Z AND SHOULD PUSH RAINFALL TO OUR SE. TWO DAYS OF NICE WEATHER
WITH SLIGHTLY LESS HUMID CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED. THEY WILL BE HOT
ONES THOUGH WITH HIGHS REACHING THE L-M90S ON FRIDAY.

THE PERSISTENT WNWLY FLOW PATTERN IS FORESEEN THRU THE WEEKEND INTO
NEXT WEEK. THIS WILL BRING A PARADE OF SHORTWAVES AND POSSIBLE MCS
CLUSTERS TO THE TN VALLEY REGION. THE STRONGEST WAVE IS PROGGED TO
ARRIVE DAYS 6-7, WHICH IS TOO FAR TO SAY WITH MUCH CERTAINTY. THE
GOING FORECAST HAS THIS PATTERN HANDLED RATHER WELL. DEPENDING ON
RAIN AND CLOUD EPISODES, TEMPS WILL BE TRICKY WITH A WIDE SPREAD IN
TEMP FORECAST BY THE GFS (WARMEST) VS ECMWF (COOLEST). AT THIS TIME,
OUR FORECAST IS CLOSE TO AN AVG BETWEEN THE TWO.

AK

&&

.AVIATION...
/ISSUED 1232 AM CDT WED JUL 31 2013/
FOR 06Z TAFS... VFR CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO GENERALLY PREVAIL BTWN
ANY SHRA/TSRA FOR THE NEXT 24 HOURS ACROSS N AL/S MIDDLE TN. CAT DROPS
TO MVFR ARE POSSIBLE WITHIN THOSE SHRA/TSRA BUT IT IS DIFFICULT TO
TIME. ADDED VCTS BTWN 14-18Z FOR ISOLATED TSRA DEVELOPMENT THAT
SHOULD INCREASE IN COVERAGE BTWN 18-00Z. MOST OF THE SHRA ACTIVITY
TAPERS OFF AFTER 00Z.

SL.77

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
HUNTSVILLE    84  70  89  68 /  70  40  10  10
SHOALS        85  70  92  69 /  70  30  10  10
VINEMONT      82  69  87  69 /  70  40  10  10
FAYETTEVILLE  80  69  87  66 /  80  40  10  10
ALBERTVILLE   82  70  89  67 /  70  50  10  10
FORT PAYNE    79  70  89  67 /  70  50  10  10

&&

.HUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
AL...NONE.
TN...NONE.
&&

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE
AT WEATHER.GOV/HUNTSVILLE.

Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 30, 9:39 PM CDT, 6 hours 15 minutes before

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In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 31, 1:54 AM CDT, 2 hours before

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Special weather statement, Jul 31, 2:23 AM CDT, 1 hour 31 minutes before

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Special weather statement, Jul 31, 2:40 AM CDT, 1 hour 14 minutes before

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Special weather statement, Jul 31, 3:01 AM CDT, 53 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
301 AM CDT WED JUL 31 2013

ALZ004-005-310830-
LAWRENCE AL-LIMESTONE AL-
301 AM CDT WED JUL 31 2013

...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR LAWRENCE AND WESTERN LIMESTONE
COUNTIES UNTIL 330 AM CDT...

AT 258 AM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM TOWN CREEK
TO 11 MILES EAST OF PHIL CAMPBELL...MOVING EAST AROUND 20 MPH.

WIND GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THESE STORMS.

LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
MOULTON...TOWN CREEK...NORTH COURTLAND...COURTLAND AND HILLSBORO.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

HEAVY RAINFALL OCCURRING WITH THESE STORMS MAY LEAD TO MINOR FLOODING
ON ROADS AND IN LOW LYING AREAS. DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE THROUGH
FLOODED ROADWAYS.

&&

LAT...LON 3431 8753 3452 8753 3462 8750 3465 8748
      3465 8745 3470 8745 3471 8742 3474 8743
      3479 8733 3476 8731 3475 8727 3476 8726
      3478 8728 3481 8722 3483 8721 3483 8706
      3430 8723
TIME...MOT...LOC 0758Z 256DEG 17KT 3469 8741 3438 8751

RSB

Special weather statement, Jul 31, 3:30 AM CDT, 24 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
330 AM CDT WED JUL 31 2013

ALZ004>007-310915-
MORGAN AL-MADISON AL-LAWRENCE AL-LIMESTONE AL-
330 AM CDT WED JUL 31 2013

...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR MORGAN...NORTHWESTERN MADISON...
LAWRENCE AND LIMESTONE COUNTIES UNTIL 415 AM CDT...

AT 330 AM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM 9 MILES
SOUTHEAST OF ROGERSVILLE TO MOULTON...MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH.

WIND GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THESE STORMS.

LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
HUNTSVILLE...DECATUR...MADISON...ATHENS...HARTSELLE...
MERIDIANVILLE...MOULTON...REDSTONE ARSENAL...HARVEST...TRINITY...
PRICEVILLE...FALKVILLE...FLINT CITY...NORTH COURTLAND...HILLSBORO...
TRIANA...SOMERVILLE AND MOORESVILLE.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

HEAVY RAINFALL OCCURRING WITH THESE STORMS MAY LEAD TO MINOR FLOODING
ON ROADS AND IN LOW LYING AREAS. DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE THROUGH
FLOODED ROADWAYS.

THESE STORMS MAY INTENSIFY...SO BE CERTAIN TO MONITOR LOCAL RADIO AND
TV STATIONS...AS WELL AS LOCAL CABLE TV OUTLETS...FOR ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

&&

LAT...LON 3439 8744 3479 8726 3482 8721 3487 8721
      3488 8652 3436 8681
TIME...MOT...LOC 0827Z 272DEG 25KT 3477 8714 3446 8730

RSB

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 31, 1:54 AM CDT	Special Weather Statement	HUN	Madison	51 min
Jul 31, 2:23 AM CDT	Special Weather Statement	HUN	Colbert	37 min
Jul 31, 2:40 AM CDT	Special Weather Statement	HUN	Jackson	50 min
Jul 31, 3:01 AM CDT	Special Weather Statement	HUN	Lawrence	29 min
Jul 31, 3:30 AM CDT	Special Weather Statement	HUN	Lawrence, Limestone, Morgan	45 min
Jul 31, 4:02 AM CDT	Special Weather Statement	HUN	Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Morgan	43 min
Jul 31, 5:01 AM CDT	Special Weather Statement	HUN	Cullman	29 min
Jul 31, 5:07 AM CDT	Special Weather Statement	HUN	Jackson	38 min
Jul 31, 5:30 AM CDT	Special Weather Statement	HUN	Cullman	30 min
Jul 31, 6:16 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	HUN	Cullman	3 hr
Jul 31, 6:16 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	HUN	Limestone	44 min
Jul 31, 6:57 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	HUN	Madison	48 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Alabama, 2013 Every flash flood warning in 2013

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.