Hail and Damaging Wind in Alabama, June 3, 2001

Name: Hail and Damaging Wind in Alabama, June 3, 2001
Start: 2001-06-03T13:44
End: 2001-06-03T14:05
Location: Alabama

June 3, 2001 · NWS BMX · 2 events in 1 county or zone

Dime to quarter size hail was observed in and around the city of Gadsden and in Hokes Bluff. Several trees were blown down in Attalla.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 9
Property damage: $17,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS BMX wrote it up.

Dime to quarter size hail was observed in and around the city of Gadsden and in Hokes Bluff. Several trees were blown down in Attalla. Three chicken houses had significant roof damage in central Etowah County.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, 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 the first event at Jun 3, 1:31 PM CST, 13 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 3, 1:31 PM CST, 13 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM, AL
231 PM CDT SUN JUN 03 2001

SURFACE ANALYSIS INDICATES SURFACE BOUNDARY LOCATED OVER COLUMBUS MS
TO NEAR BIRMINGHAM TO GADSDEN. NORTH OF FRONT AN AREA OF
THUNDERSTORMS MOVING EAST ACROSS TN VALLEY. THIS AREA OF STORMS HAD
MOVED ACROSS SOUTHERN TN AND SPREAD CLOUDS ACROSS NORTHERN ALABAMA.
RADARS INDICATING NOTHING BACK BEHIND THIS AREA AND WILL BASE 1ST
PERIOD POPS THIS AREA MAINLY ON RADAR AT ISSUANCE. ALONG AND SOUTH OF
BOUNDARY...WHERE ATMOSPHERE IS MOIST AND UNSTABLE...LACK OF CLOUDS
ALLOWED FOR GOOD WARMING. TEMPERATURES IN THIS AREA IN THE UPPER 70S
AND 80S. HAVE ALREADY ISSUED SEVERAL WARNINGS FOR THIS AREA.

MODELS ARE IN PRETTY GOOD AGREEMENT WITH MAIN FEATURES THIS RUN.
UPPER LOW OVER GREAT LAKES SLIDES EAST OVER NEW ENGLAND BY MIDDAY
MONDAY AND ALONG CANADIAN COAST BY TUESDAY. SEVERAL IMPULSES MOVE
NORTHWARD OUT OF THE GULF ACROSS PORTIONS OF ALABAMA. SURFACE
BOUNDARY WILL SLOWLY LIFT NORTHWARD OVERNIGHT. BY MONDAY SURFACE HIGH
PRESSURE SETS UP OFF THE SOUTHEAST COAST AND PUMPS GOOD GULF MOISTURE
INTO FORECAST AREA. WITH MOISTURE...INSTABILITY IN PLACE...SCATTERED
THUNDERSTORMS WILL FIRE IN THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING THROUGH
WEDNESDAY. NEXT FRONT MOVES THROUGH THE AREA ON THURSDAY.

HSV 066/083 068/083 067 4434
BHM 068/087 070/083 069 8445
MGM 070/090 071/086 071 5435

.BHM...NONE.

83

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jun 3, 10:40 AM CST, 3 hours 4 minutes before

ALZ001>038-040>050-040000-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1140 AM CDT SUN JUN 3 2001

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTH AND CENTRAL ALABAMA.

A FRONTAL BOUNDARY REMAINS ACROSS NORTHERN ALABAMA FROM RUSSELLVILLE
TO HARTSELLE TO FORT PAYNE. THIS FRONT WILL CONTINUE TO SLOWLY MOVE
NORTHWARD DURING THE AFTERNOON. PORTIONS OF NORTH ALABAMA...IN THE
VICINITY OF THIS FRONT...IS WHERE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL
LIKELY OCCUR THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING AS A DISTURBANCE ALOFT MOVE
ACROSS THE REGION. A FEW STORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE WITH FREQUENT
LIGHTENING...LARGE HAIL AND GUSTY WINDS POSSIBLE.

ACROSS THE REST OF THE STATE...THE ATMOSPHERE REMAINS VERY
UNSTABLE...BUT CERTAIN PARAMETERS ARE NOT COMING TOGETHER FOR
ORGANIZED SEVERE WEATHER. ISOLATED STORMS MAY BE POSSIBLE THIS
AFTERNOON...AS ABUNDANT LOW LEVEL MOISTURE WILL BE IN PLACE AND
DAYTIME TEMPERATURES RISE TO NEAR 90. A LACK OF LOW LEVEL
CONVERGENCE LOOKS TO BY THE LIMITING FACTOR FOR STORMS...BUT IF ANY
DEVELOP THEY COULD QUICKLY BECOME SEVERE WITH STRONG DAMAGING WINDS
AND HAIL.

ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL
SHOjULD NOT BE NECESSARY THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.

WET MICROBURST POTENTIAL FACTOR:
HUNTSVILLE IS 1
BIRMINGHAM IS 4
MONTGOMERY IS 5

The radar

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 102 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:46 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Etowah

When: June 3, 1:44 PM CST to 2:05 PM CST
Where: Etowah County, Gadsden
Measured: 1 in hail
Property damage: $2,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 34.017, -86.017

Thunderstorm Wind, Etowah

When: June 3, 1:44 PM CST to 2:05 PM CST
Where: Etowah County, Gadsden
Measured: 50 kt (58 mph)
Injuries: 9 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $15,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 34.017, -86.017

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Alabama in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Alabama, June 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5250111, 5250112.