1 heat, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
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 Mar 16, 2:56 PM CST, 1 hour 4 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM, AL 256 PM CST SAT MAR 16 2002 SPRINGTIME WEATHER TO CONTINUE ACROSS CWA THROUGH THE SHORT RANGE FORECAST PERIOD...AND INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK. COLD FRONT MOVED INTO NORTHWEST CORNER OF STATE EARLY THIS MORNING...BUT STALLED AS EXPECTED. IT SHOULD MOVE BACK NORTH TONIGHT...AND THEN STAY CLOSE TO THE AREA THROUGH SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT. ETA AND AVN BOTH INDICATE THAT FRONT WILL BE A FOCAL POINT FOR WET WEATHER OVER NEXT 2 TO 3 DAYS. BOTH MODELS HAVE A ROUGHLY SW-NE ORIENTED AXIS OF PRECIP THAT DOESNT SHIFT A WHOLE LOT N OR S BETWEEN SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND MONDAY. POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR HEAVY RAINFALL EPISODE FOR NORTH ALABAMA...ESPECIALLY SUNDAY NIGHT AND POSSIBLY LASTING INTO MONDAY. STRONGLY CONTEMPLATING HIGHLIGHTING THIS POTENTIAL IN THE ZONES...ALONG WITH A SPECIAL WX STATEMENT ACCOMPANIMENT. TOO EARLY FOR A FLASH FLOOD WATCH...HOWEVER. OF MORE IMMEDIATE CONCERN ARE THE STORMS THAT HAVE FIRED UP THIS AFTERNOON...AND WILL CONTINUE INTO THE EVENING. SURFACE BASED INSTABILITIES ARE QUITE HIGH FROM I-20 SOUTH...AND ELEVATED CONVECTION HAS POPPED UP IN NORTHERN MS. CONVECTION SO FAR DOESNT APPEAR TO HAVE A WHOLE LOT OF ORGANIZATION TO IT...BUT WILL HAVE TO WATCH THINGS CLOSELY THROUGH THE REST OF THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. WILL PROBABLY INCLUDE SOME SORT OF ENHANCED WORDING IN THE ZONES FOR THE THREAT OF WIND OR HAIL TONIGHT. EXPECT A LOT OF THE CONVECTION (IN THE SOUTHERN CWA...ANYWAY) TO DIMINISH AS HEATING IS LOST TONIGHT. PERHAPS AN OVERALL LULL IN THE ACTIVITY FROM LATE TONIGHT UNTIL SUNDAY AFTERNOON...AND THEN THE AFOREMENTIONED THREAT OF HEAVY RAIN STARTING SUNDAY NIGHT. FRONT THEN IS EXPECTED TO MAKE ANOTHER SMALL PUSH NORTHWARD...AND TAKE SOME OF THE DEEP MOISTURE WITH IT MONDAY/MONDAY NIGHT. AT LAST...A STRONG SHORTWAVE TROF IS ULTIMATELY FORECAST TO HELP PUSH A COLD FRONT THROUGH FROM THE WEST LATE TUESDAY...WHICH WILL SIGNAL THE START OF THE END OF THIS PARTICULAR RAINY EPISODE. GUIDANCE TEMPS WERE TOO LOW TODAY IN WARM SECTOR...SO WILL DO A GENERAL TWEAKING UP OF HIGHS OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS. NUMBERS BELOW (ESPECIALLY FIRST PERIOD POPS) ARE FIRST GUESS ONLY... AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE. HSV 061/074/059/075 7786 BHM 062/076/060/078 7775 MGM 064/083/063/083 5544 .BHM...NONE.
ALZ001>050-162007- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 107 PM CST SAT MAR 16 2002 HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTH AND CENTRAL ALABAMA. ...SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MAINLY SOUTH OF A HAMILTON...CULLMAN...GADSDEN LINE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING... THEN A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THE ENTIRE AREA LATER TONIGHT. A COLD FRONT ACROSS THE EXTREME NORTHERN THIRD OF THE AREA WILL REMAIN NEARLY STATIONARY THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING AND THEN MOVE NORTHWARD LATE TONIGHT. AHEAD OF THE FRONT...A MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIR MASS WILL CONTINUE. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP IN THE HEATING OF THE AFTERNOON AND BECOME MORE NUMEROUS THROUGH THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS. SOME OF THE STORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE WITH THE PRIMARY THREAT DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL. THE RISK OF ANY SEVERE STORMS OVERNIGHT WILL PRIMARILY COME FROM SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THAT DEVELOP WEST OF THE AREA AND MOVE EAST INTO THE STATE. IN ADDITION...WHERE THUNDERSTORMS PERSIST...LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN WILL BE POSSIBLE AND SOME FLOODING COULD OCCUR...ESPECIALLY IN LOW LYING AREAS. WITH LITTLE SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN THE WEATHER PATTERN...THE THREAT FOR THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE INTO SUNDAY. AT THIS TIME...NO SEVERE STORMS ARE EXPECTED...HOWEVER...THE SITUATION COULD CHANGE. STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL SHOULD MONITOR WEATHER CONDITIONS...FORECASTS...AND STATEMENTS THROUGH THE WEEKEND. ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL MAY BE NECESSARY THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heat. Local standard time, as filed.
The afternoon high temperature recorded at Dannelly Field was 85 degrees. This temperature tied the previous record high.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alabama in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Alabama, March 2002
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: 5284408.