Alabama, 2001

Hail in Alabama, May 21, 2001

May 21, 2001 · NWS BMX · 2 events in 1 county or zone

2 hail, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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
0
Property damage
None recorded
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 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 May 21, 2:21 AM CST, 9 hours 29 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 21, 2:21 AM CST, 9 hours 29 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM, AL
321 AM CDT MON MAY 21 2001

BIG STORM SYSTEM POISED TO SWEEP ACROSS THE AREA NEXT 24 HOURS OR
SO.  PLENTY OF MOISTURE AND LIFT TO BE HAD...AND WITH ADDED HEAT
THIS AFTERNOON...EXPECT INSTABILITY TO BE SUFFICIENT FOR WIDESPREAD
STORMS.  PLUS...ITS HARD NOT TO NOTICE THE ONGOING CONVENTION IN
WESTERN TN AND NORTHERN MS.  WILL KEEP HIGH POPS AREAWIDE TODAY...
WITH CATAGORICAL IN NORTH AND WEST...TO LIKELY AND HIGH CHANCE
FARTHER SOUTH AND EAST.  GIVEN SPC OUTLOOK...WILL ENHANCE WORDING
IN APPROPRIATE AREAS AS WELL.

EXPECT SEVERAL WAVES OF CONVECTION TODAY AND TONIGHT...AND THEN THE
BIG FINAL PUSH OF RAIN LATE TONIGHT AND EARLY TOMORROW.  RAIN
SHOULD EXIT AREA AFTER COLD FRONT MOVES THROUGH (YET ANOTHER FRONT
MOVING THROUGH THE BHM WITHIN A FEW HOURS OF 12Z).  PRETTY COOL
AIRMASS IN WAKE OF FRONT.  DOESN'T APPEAR TO BE A RECORD BREAKER AT
THIS POINT...BUT STILL UNSEASONABLY COOL.

MEDIUM RANGE MODELS THAN KEEP CUTOFF UPPER LOW SPINNING ACROSS THE
EASTERN HALF OF THE COUNTRY THROUGH THE BETTER PART OF THE WEEK.
LOW CONFIDENCE IN THE EXTENDED FORECAST...DUE TO UNCERTAINTIES
INVOLVED WITH SHORTWAhVES ROTATING AROUND BIG UPPER LOW.

HSV 083/059/067/048 ++2
BHM 085/062/072/050 783
MGM 087/066/078/053 565

.BHM...NONE.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Tuscaloosa

When
May 21, 11:50 AM CST
Where
Tuscaloosa County, Echola
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates
33.350, -87.800

Dime size hail was reported in Echola.

Hail, Tuscaloosa

When
May 21, 11:57 AM CST
Where
Tuscaloosa County, 10 mi NE of Northport
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates
33.317, -87.467

Dime size hail was observed in the Yellow Creek area.

What these are

Hail
Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Alabama in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Alabama, May 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: 5245934, 5245935.