1 flash flood, 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 Aug 20, 1:12 PM CST, 7 hours 18 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 212 PM CDT WED AUG 20 2003 FORECAST QUANDARIES...PROBABILITY OF PRECIPITATION (POP) AND TEMPERATURES SIMPLY..ISOLATED SHOWERS ACROSS N LOCATIONS...OTHERWISE HAZY...WITH CU FIELD DEVELOPMENT OBSERVED. SFC RIDGING APEX ACROSS CNTRL ATLANTIC...USHERING IN SLY FLOW. HOWEVER...SOME CAPPING NOTED IN LOW TO MID LEVELS...SUPPRESSING MORE WIDESPREAD CONVECTION...ASSOCIATED WITH BROAD RIDGING INFLUENCES ALOFT. OTHERWISE...MOSTLY SUNNY SKIES...TEMPS UPPER 80S WITH DEWPOINTS UPPER 70S...WITH HEAT INDEX VALUES MID 90S TO AROUND 100. REGIONAL MODEL EVOLUTIONS THRU 12Z SAT IN GOOD AGREEMENT... ESPECIALLY ALOFT. LATEST MODEL DIAGNOSTIC DISCUSSION POINTING TOWARD A COMPROMISE SOLUTION. IN AGREEMENT...WILL LEAN ACCORDINGLY. KEY TO MORE WIDESPREAD CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT THIS AFTERNOON WILL RELY ON LOCAL CAP EROSION POSSIBILITIES. WILL MONITOR SITUATION FOR PRESS TIME CHANGES IF NEEDED. PATTERN SURFACE AND ALOFT SHOULD CHANGE LITTLE THRU SHORT TERM PERIOD...WITH SURFACE AND UPPER UPPER LEVEL RIDGING PERSISTENT. SOME HINT OF NWLY FLOW ALOFT INFLUENCING AREA ON FRI...AS UPPER RIDGE APEX ACROSS W U.S. MOVES INTO CNTRL PLAINS. THUS...AGAIN... CAPPING STRENGTH IS THE KEY. WHERE IT ERODES...LOOK FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO RAPIDLY DEVELOP DURING AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS...WITH PLENTIFUL INSTABILITY TAPPED AND HIGH PRECIP WATER CONTENT LEADING TOWARD BRIEF LOCALLY HEAVY DOWNPOURS. THUS...WILL GO WITH ISOLATED POPS NIGHT TO SCATTERED POPS AFTERNOON...WITH AN INCREASE IN CHANCES ON FRI...AS NWLY FLOW INFLUENCES BECOME MORE ENHANCED. REST OF WEEK...GFS DRAGGING A FRONT INTO N PORTIONS OF AL ON SAT... KEEPING IT QUASI-STATIONARY...THEN EVENTUALLY WASHING IT OUT ACROSS AREA ON SUN. NWLY FLOW PATTERN WILL ALSO BE IN PLAY THRU SUN... UNTIL RIDGE APEX SLOWLY MOVES E ACROSS MS RIVER VALLEY. AS UPPER LEVEL RIDGING DYNAMICS MOVE MORE E INTO E U.S...CONVECTION SHOULD BE SUPPRESSED..WITH ISOLATED AT BEST. A MORE WELL DEVELOPED SFC RIDGING PATTERN WILL ALSO BUILD DOWN OUT OF MIDWEST INTO OUR REGION THRU EARLY NEXT WEEK. THIS WILL ALSO ENHANCE CONVECTION SUPPRESSION. DO NOT THINK WE WILL BE TOTALLY DRY...BUT WILL GO WITH ISOLATED POPS AT BEST. TEMPERATURES...BLENDED MODEL SOLUTION. THANKS FOR COORDINATION HUN PRELIMINARY NUMBERS FOR COORDINATION PURPOSES ONLY... BHM BB 073/090/072/089/071 23243 MGM BT 073/092/073/091/072 23253 .BHM...NONE. 89 JBW
ALZ011>015-017>050-202030- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 137 PM CDT WED AUG 20 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE COUNTIES SERVED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN BIRMINGHAM. .DAY ONE (THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT)... ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ACROSS THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. NO ORGANIZED AREAS OF HAZARDOUS WEATHER ARE EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN (WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY)... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL SHOULD NOT BE NECESSARY THROUGH TONIGHT.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Radar estimated three to four and half inches of rain across northeast Marion County in a three hour period. Several roads from Bear Creek to Goddard to Whitehouse were temporarily impassable due to high water.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alabama in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Alabama, August 2003
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: 5368517.