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 17, 2:47 PM CST, 1 hour 13 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM, AL 247 PM CST SUN MAR 17 2002 FROPA MUSCLE SHOALS WENT FROM 69 TO 78 IN ONE HOUR...FOR ONE OF THE MORE DIFINITIVE WARM FRONTAL PASSAGES IN RECENT MEMORY. HAVE A FEELING THAT TRYING TO PINPOINT THE LOCATION OF THIS NEARLY STATIONARY FRONT OVER NEXT DAY OR SO WILL BE AN EFFORT IN FUTILITY. SOUTH BY NIGHT...NORTH BY DAY. MODELS SHOW THIS TREND TO CONTINUE TONIGHT AND MONDAY...WITH ETA AND AVN BOTH HINTING THAT FRONT WILL EDGE AS FAR SOUTH AS CULLMAN OR BIRMINGHAM OVERNIGHT. I FIND THIS POSITION A LITTLE SUSPECT...AS MODELS HAVE TRIED TO MOVE THE FRONT TOO FAR SOUTH (INTO THE STRENGTH OF THE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE) ALL ALONG. IF FRONT GETS SOUTH OF HSV/DCU TOMORROW MORNING... I STILL THINK IT WILL AGAIN DRIFT BACK NORTH DURING THE DAY...JUST LIKE TODAY. WILL THEREFORE GO SIGNIFICANTLY ABOVE GUIDANCE HIGHS FOR MONDAY IN NORTH ALABAMA...AND LESS SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER ELSEWHERE. AS FAR AS RAINFALL GOES...WILL GO AHEAD AND KEEP THE HIGH POPS NORTH OVERNIGHT. WILL ALSO KEEP MENTION OF HEAVY RAINFALL POTENTIAL. BUT FLOOD WATCH NOT NEEDED IN MY CWA AT THIS POINT... SINCE RAINFALL SO FAR HAS BEEN (RELATIVELY) MINOR. LOOKS LIKE THE MAIN AXIS OF RAIN AND DEEP MOISTURE SHIFTS MORE TO THE NORTH LATER IN THE DAY MONDAY AND INTO MONDAY NIGHT. WILL BACK OFF A LITTLE ON THE POPS FOR THOSE TIME PERIODS. AS FOR THE BIG SHORTWAVE...PROGGED TO MOVE IN LATE TUESDAY AND INTO WEDNESDAY...IT MAY OR MAY NOT BE SO BIG. LATEST AVN MODEL SHOWS THIS FEATURE WEAKENING AS IT MOVES EAST. IM NOT YET WILLING TO WRITE THIS FEATURE OFF...AND WILL MAINTAIN THE CONSISTENCY OF A STORMY FORECAST FOR TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY. HSV 058/074/060/078 7633 BHM 060/080/060/082 4423 MGM 060/085/062/083 2202 .BHM...NONE.
ALZ001>050-172000- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 100 PM CST SUN MAR 17 2002 HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTH AND CENTRAL ALABAMA. A STATIONARY FRONT WILL REMAIN ACROSS THE NORTHWEST SECTIONS OF THE AREA THROUGH TONIGHT. TO THE SOUTH OF THE FRONT...A WARM AND MOIST UNSTABLE AIR MASS WILL CONTINUE. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT WITH SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS LIKELY ACROSS THE EXTREME NORTH IN THE VICINITY OF THE FRONT. IN THE TENNESSEE VALLEY...IN THE PROXIMITY OF THE FRONT AND UPPER LEVEL DYNAMICS...A FEW STORMS COULD BECOME STRONG AND APPROACH SEVERE LIMITS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. IN ADDITION...SOME LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BE POSSIBLE WHERE STORMS PERSIST. HOWEVER...NO ORGANIZED OR WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED. ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL AT THIS TIME IS GENERALLY NOT EXPECTED.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heat. Local standard time, as filed.
The afternoon high temperature observed 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: 5284409.