Alabama, 2002

Damaging Wind in Alabama, December 24, 2002

December 24, 2002 · NWS MOB · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 thunderstorm wind, 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
$5,000
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
1

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 Mobile, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 24, 3:15 AM CST, 1 hour 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 24, 3:15 AM CST, 1 hour 20 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
315 AM CST TUE DEC 24 2002

UPDATED ALL ZONES FOR TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 804.  THIS MORNINGS NEW
ZONE PACKAGE WILL BE OUT BY 430 AM...

***************************
PREVIOUS
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SETTING UP TO BE A BUSY CHRISTMAS EVE WEATHER WISE.  AFTER LOOKING
AT 00Z MODEL DATA...APPEARS FORECAST STILL APPEARS ON TRACK...WITH
SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE FCST AREA BECOMING MORE
NUMEROUS TOWARD DAYBREAK AS A STRONG SQUALL LINE CURRENTLY EXTENDING
NORTH TO SOUTH ACROSS WESTERN MISSISSIPPI INTO CENTRAL LOUISIANA.
OUT AHEAD OF THIS SQUALL LINE...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE BECOMING
MORE INTENSE...WITH SOME SVR AND/OR TORNADIC STORMS POSSIBLE THROUGH
SUNRISE.  TORNADO WATCH 803 IN EFFECT UNTIL 300 AM FOR MUCH OF THE
FCST AREA AND JUST CONCLUDED CONFERENCE CALL WITH SPC.  WILL ISSUE
NEW TORNADO WATCH...NUMBER 804...WHICH WILL COVER MY ENTIRE CWFA
UNTIL 15Z THIS MORNING.  EXPECT STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TO
CONTINUE OVER MUCH OF THE FCST AREA THROUGH AT LEAST NOON TODAY.
TORNADO THREAT WILL BE GREATEST WITH SCATTERED STORMS OUT AHEAD OF
THE SQUALL LINE...WITH BOWS AND LEWPS IN SQUALL LINE BEING THE
PRIMARY SVR THREAT LATER ON THIS MORNING.  MEDIA...EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT AND STORM SPOTTERS SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR POSSIBLE
ACTIVATION IN SUPPORT OF SEVERE WEATHER OPERATIONS THROUGH AT LEAST
EARLY THIS AFTERNOON.

MODELS DIDNT SEEM TO INITIALIZE THE SQUALL LINE VERY WELL AT
ALL...BUT ETA DOES SEEM TO HAVE A LITTLE BETTER HANDLE THROUGH THE
SHORT TERM.  EVEN WITH SMALL DIFFERENCES...MODELS AGREE THAT FRONT
WILL BE THROUGH MOST OF THE FCST AREA BY THIS EVENING.  STILL LOOKS
LIKE THE COLD FRONT SHOULD CLEAR MOST OF THE CONVECTION THIS
AFTERNOON OVER THE WESTERN HALF OF THE FCST AREA...AND TO THE EAST
IN THE EARLY EVENING HOURS.  GRADUAL CLEARING SKIES EXPECTED FROM
THE WEST THROUGH CHRISTMAS MORNING.  WILL COOL IT DOWN BEHIND THE
FRONT THURSDAY WITH MID 20S WELL INLAND BY THURSDAY MORNING.
WILL MAKE NO CHANGES TO CURRENT EXTENDED FCST.

MARINE...SCA CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE MARINE AREA
TODAY...ALONG WITH SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS STRONG TO SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS MOVING WEST TO EAST ACROSS THE COASTAL WATERS TODAY.

FIRE...NO HIGHLIGHTS.

12/SHEPHERD

PRELIMINARY CCF NUMBERS...
MOB TU 068/040 053/030 053 12+10
PNS TU 070/042 053/033 053 12+20
DTS TU 070/044 054/034 052 12+20
GZH TU 068/039 049/027 049 12+20
2R0 TU 062/035 048/025 049 12+10
61A TU 068/039 049/027 049 12+20

MOB...
AL...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY GMZ630-650-670.
FL...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY GMZ655-675.
MS...NONE.
Hazardous weather outlook, Dec 23, 1:50 PM CST, 14 hours 45 minutes before
ALZ051>064-FLZ001>006-MSZ067-075-076-078-079-240300-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
150 PM CST MON DEC 23 2002

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI...
SOUTHWEST ALABAMA...AND THE WESTERN FLORIDA PANHANDLE.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT

A LARGE AREA OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE UP FROM
SOUTHERN LOUISIANA THIS AFTERNOON AND SPREAD NORTHEASTWARD ACROSS
THE AREA THROUGH THE EVENING.  INCREASING LOW LEVEL MOISTURE AND
INSTABILITIES BEHIND A NORTHWARD MOVING WARM FRONT COULD RESULT IN A
FEW STRONG STORMS TONIGHT...HOWEVER WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT
EXPECTED.  THE MAIN THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER OVERNIGHT IS EXPECTED TO
BE WEST OF THE REGION...MAINLY FOCUSED ALONG AND AHEAD OF A STRONG
COLD FRONT THAT PUSHES INTO SOUTH AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA SOMETIME
EARLY TUESDAY MORNING.

.SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT...

THE ACTIVATION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL...STORM SPOTTERS
AND HAM RADIO OPERATORS IS NOT EXPECTED TO BE REQUIRED THROUGH
TONIGHT.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY

TUESDAY...A LINE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ALONG A STRONG COLD
FRONT WILL PUSH OUT OF SOUTH AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA AND INTO SOUTHEAST
MISSISSIPPI BY EARLY TUESDAY MORNING.  THIS LINE OF STORMS WILL PUSH
INTO SOUTHWEST ALABAMA BY LATE TUESDAY MORNING...THEN ACROSS SOUTH
CENTRAL ALABAMA AND THE WESTERN FLORIDA PANHANDLE DURING THE
AFTERNOON.  THE LIKELIHOOD OF SEVERE WEATHER WILL BE GREATER WITH THE
STORMS THAT MOVE INTO THE REGION TUESDAY MORNING...MAINLY WEST OF
THE I-65 CORRIDOR.  THE MAIN WEATHER THREAT WILL BE ISOLATED
TORNADOES OUT AHEAD OF THE APPROACHING SQUALL LINE...THEN DAMAGING
WINDS ASSOCIATED WITH BOWING STORMS EMBEDDED WITHIN THE LINE OF
STORMS.  THE ACTIVATION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL...STORM
SPOTTERS AND HAM RADIO OPERATORS MAY BE REQUIRED BEGINNING EARLY
TUESDAY MORNING.

TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY...THE COLD FRONT AND ASSOCIATED SHOWERS
AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL PUSH WELL EAST OF THE REGION BY EARLY TUESDAY
EVENING.  DRIER AND COOLER CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL CHRISTMAS DAY AND
CONTINUE INTO THE WEEKEND AS A REINFORCING SHOT OF COLD AIR ARRIVES
SOMETIME LATE ON FRIDAY.

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 112 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 10:33 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Escambia

When
December 24, 4:35 AM CST to 4:36 AM CST
Where
Escambia County, Wallace
Measured
50 kt (58 mph)
Property damage
$5,000
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
31.200, -87.233

High winds from a thunderstorm blew down several trees near Wallace.

What these are

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

More

Every storm in Alabama in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Alabama, December 2002

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: 5326958.