Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2026
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 5, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jan 10, 2026, 9:39 AM CST for 7 counties in Alabama. It was in force for 51 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
- Jan 10, 2026, 9:39 AM CST (15:39 UTC)
- Expired
- Jan 10, 2026, 10:30 AM CST
- In force
- 51 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Storm-based polygon
- Tornado
- Possible
- Hail
- 0.75 in
- Wind
- 60.0 mph
Counties Chambers County, AL, Elmore County, AL, Lee County, AL, Macon County, AL, Montgomery County, AL, Russell County, AL, Tallapoosa County, AL
The radar
The Maxwell AFB radar (KMXX), 10 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:38 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 watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 10, 3:49 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 9 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 3.7 hours before the alert went out and 124 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 477 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -15 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 616 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 64 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 476 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 501 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 5.7
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 Birmingham, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jan 10, 4:51 AM CST, 4 hours 48 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
- Updated at 450 AM CST SAT JAN 10 2026
- There is a Marginal to Slight Risk (levels 1/2 out of 5) of severe thunderstorms across Central Alabama today
- There is a risk of flash flooding will continue today, with areas of 1-2 inches of additional rainfall is expected. 2-4 inches will be possible in areas that see the heaviest convective banding. A Flood Watch is in effect for much of the area through 6PM Saturday.
- Temperatures will quickly fall behind the front, returning to below average to start the upcoming week.
Area forecast discussion, Jan 10, 4:51 AM CST, 4 hours 48 minutes before
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Birmingham AL 451 AM CST Sat Jan 10 2026 ...New MESOSCALE UPDATE, AVIATION... .KEY MESSAGES... Updated at 450 AM CST SAT JAN 10 2026 - There is a Marginal to Slight Risk (levels 1/2 out of 5) of severe thunderstorms across Central Alabama today - There is a risk of flash flooding will continue today, with areas of 1-2 inches of additional rainfall is expected. 2-4 inches will be possible in areas that see the heaviest convective banding. A Flood Watch is in effect for much of the area through 6PM Saturday. - Temperatures will quickly fall behind the front, returning to below average to start the upcoming week. && .MESOSCALE UPDATE FOR TORNADO WATCH... Issued at 450 AM CST SAT JAN 10 2026 Looking at the observations and velocity on local radars the pseudo warm front boundary is roughly along a line from Tuscaloosa to Pelham, to Anniston. It will continue to lift to the north and northeast as the morning progresses. There have been some brief rotations as cells move along and north of this boundary, we will need to continue to monitor this area, thus the northern extent of the watch. Further to the west we can see the front itself beginning to catch up to the pre-frontal trough that the current warnings in Mississippi are lining up on. The low level jet is increasing right now as the system begins to push east and east- northeast. Look for this uptick in activity to continue over the next few hours. Southwestern Alabama will really see the uptick after 5 AM. && .DISCUSSION... (Sunday through next Saturday) Issued at 1132 PM CST FRI JAN 9 2026 The slow-moving frontal boundary will continue to push southeastward this morning through the early afternoon. This will lead to widespread rain and a few thunderstorms. The main concern will be any banding of heavier rainfall over areas that have already seen quite a bit of rain from Friday. These areas will be watched for potential flash flooding. The severe threat is very limited as instability remains negligible. With the persistent rainfall over the area, it may be hard for instability recovery by this afternoon. With that said, there's a low chance for a strong storm or two before the front moves out of our area. The front will be southeast of our area by Saturday evening, marking a sharp drop in temperatures on Sunday. Daytime highs on Sunday will generally be in the mid 40 across the northern counties to the mid 50s across the southern counties, nearly 20 degrees cooler than the past couple of days. High pressure builds in Sunday through at least Wednesday of next week with northwesterly flow aloft. This will keep Central AL rain- free for the first half of the week. A shortwave may swing through Wednesday night into early Thursday leading to low (15%) chance of rain, but guidance varies on the coverage of this. With a persistent dry air mass in place for the first half of the week, I might lean on the drier side of the solutions at this point. Otherwise, cooler temperatures appear to persist through the end of the week. 25/Owen && .AVIATION... (12Z TAFS) Issued at 450 AM CST SAT JAN 10 2026 Messy conditions expected through the next 18 hours with IFR conditions through at least the afternoon in the southeast. A slow-moving front will continue to move southeastward through the region. This will lead to persistent rainfall with period of heavy rainfall. In between the rain showers, low CIGs can also be expected to persist. Conditions will gradually improve between 00-06z as the front pushes to our southeast and drier air builds in. 16 && .FIRE WEATHER... Widespread rain should taper off by Saturday evening across the region with cooler and drier air building in behind the cold front for Sunday through much of next week. MinRHs will drop into the 30% range, especially across the southern half of the area, through roughly mid-week. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Gadsden 67 34 47 23 / 100 10 0 0 Anniston 69 36 48 25 / 100 10 0 0 Birmingham 66 37 47 27 / 100 10 0 0 Tuscaloosa 67 37 51 27 / 90 0 0 0 Calera 70 36 51 26 / 100 10 0 0 Auburn 71 41 52 29 / 80 30 0 0 Montgomery 74 40 53 28 / 90 20 0 0 Troy 75 42 55 28 / 80 30 0 0 && .BMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Flood Watch through this afternoon for the following counties: Autauga-Bibb-Blount-Calhoun-Chambers-Cherokee-Chilton-Clay- Cleburne-Coosa-Dallas-Elmore-Etowah-Fayette-Greene-Hale- Jefferson-Lamar-Lee-Lowndes-Macon-Marengo-Marion-Montgomery- Perry-Pickens-Randolph-Shelby-St. Clair-Sumter-Talladega- Tallapoosa-Tuscaloosa-Walker-Winston. && DISCUSSION...25/Owen AVIATION...16
In the hours before
Local storm report, Jan 10, 8:42 AM CST, 57 minutes before
Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Birmingham AL
842 AM CST Sat Jan 10 2026
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0822 AM Tstm Wnd Dmg Selma 32.41N 87.02W
01/10/2026 Dallas AL Emergency Mngr
EMA shared an unconfirmed report of a tree
down on a house in Selma. Time estimated by
radar. Additionally, power outages are
reported in areas of the county.
&&
05Special weather statement, Jan 10, 9:12 AM CST, 27 minutes before
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</html>The office that day
Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 9, 11:04 PM CST | Areal Flood Advisory | BMX | Autauga, Dallas, Perry | 6 hr |
| Jan 9, 11:39 PM CST | Special Weather Statement | BMX | Autauga | 51 min |
| Jan 10, 4:21 AM CST | Special Weather Statement | BMX | Elmore | 24 min |
| Jan 10, 4:31 AM CST | Areal Flood Advisory | BMX | Bibb, Jefferson, Shelby, Tuscaloosa | 6 hr |
| Jan 10, 5:05 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Jefferson, Shelby | 6 hr |
| Jan 10, 5:37 AM CST | Areal Flood Advisory | BMX | Calhoun, Etowah, Jefferson, St. Clair, Shelby, Talladega | 7 hr |
| Jan 10, 6:17 AM CST | Special Weather Statement | BMX | Calhoun | 28 min |
| Jan 10, 6:18 AM CST | Special Weather Statement | BMX | Hale | 42 min |
| Jan 10, 6:43 AM CST | Special Weather Statement | BMX | Perry | 47 min |
| Jan 10, 6:54 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Marengo, Sumter | 44 min |
| Jan 10, 7:05 AM CST | Special Weather Statement | BMX | Bibb, Chilton, Shelby | 40 min |
| Jan 10, 7:26 AM CST | Areal Flood Advisory | BMX | Fayette, Jefferson, Tuscaloosa, Walker | 2 hr |
| Jan 10, 7:32 AM CST | Areal Flood Advisory | BMX | Blount, Etowah, St. Clair | 4 hr |
| Jan 10, 7:36 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Dallas, Hale, Marengo, Perry | 54 min |
| Jan 10, 7:42 AM CST | Areal Flood Advisory | BMX | Hale, Marengo | 4 hr |
| Jan 10, 7:44 AM CST | Special Weather Statement | BMX | Chilton, Coosa, Talladega | 46 min |
| Jan 10, 8:09 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | St. Clair, Shelby, Talladega | 2 hr |
| Jan 10, 8:15 AM CST | Areal Flood Advisory | BMX | Chilton | 4 hr |
| Jan 10, 8:27 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Autauga, Chilton, Dallas, Lowndes, Perry | 48 min |
| Jan 10, 8:32 AM CST | Special Weather Statement | BMX | Clay, Coosa, Randolph, Tallapoosa | 58 min |
| Jan 10, 8:54 AM CST | Areal Flood Advisory | BMX | Calhoun, Cherokee | 3 hr |
| Jan 10, 8:59 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Autauga, Elmore | 32 min |
| Jan 10, 9:01 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Autauga, Chilton, Coosa, Elmore, Lowndes, Macon and 2 more | 44 min |
| Jan 10, 9:12 AM CST | Special Weather Statement | BMX | Lowndes | 48 min |
| Jan 10, 9:25 AM CST | Special Weather Statement | BMX | Chambers, Randolph | 50 min |
| Jan 10, 9:42 AM CST | Special Weather Statement | BMX | Bullock, Montgomery | 48 min |
| Jan 10, 10:21 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chambers, Lee, Macon, Russell | 39 min |
| Jan 10, 10:36 AM CST | Special Weather Statement | BMX | Bullock | 24 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Alabama, 2026Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2026
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.