1 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 May 21, 1:34 PM CST, 1 hour 26 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM, AL 234 PM CDT WED MAY 21 2003 A COMBINATION OF DEEP MOISTURE...STALLED OUT FRONTAL BOUNDARY...AND APPROACHING SHORT WAVE TROF WILL BRING ABOUT YET ANOTHER ROUND OF HEAVY RAINFALL ACROSS MUCH OF THE FORECAST AREA. FLASH FLOOD WATCH HAS ALREADY BEEN ISSUED FOR CENTRAL ALABAMA...WHERE 1 TO 3 INCHES ARE LIKELY THROUGH TONIGHT. MODELS STILL ADVERTISING A 850MB CLOSED LOW TO DEVELOP OVER SOUTH CENTRAL ALABAMA TONIGHT AND DRIFT SLOWLY INTO GEORGIA BY THURSDAY AFTERNOON. INCREASING LOW LEVEL WARM AIR ADVECTION ON EAST SIDE OF LOW WILL LIKELY RESULT IN POCKETS OF STRONGER CONVECTION OVER EAST ALABAMA LATER TONIGHT. MODELS HAVE BEEN SHOWING A SLOWER MOVING SYSTEM...SO RAIN WILL LIKELY LINGER ACROSS EAST ALABAMA THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING. LOW LEVEL MOISTURE PROGS INDICATING CLOUDS WILL BE HARD TO CLEAR OUT THURSDAY...WITH A GOOD POSSIBILITY OF SOME CLOUDS HOLDING OVER EAST ALABAMA THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT. A SUNNY WEEKEND IS LOOKING LESS LIKELY WITH EACH MODEL RUN. ALTHOUGH ALABAMA REMAINS IN A NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT...GFS IS TRYING TO BRING SEVERAL SHORT WAVE TROFS DOWN BACK SIDE OF TROF. EVEN THOUGH PCPN WITH THESE SYSTEMS SHOULD REMAIN WEST OF AREA...CLOUDS WILL MOVE BACK OVER THE REGION THIS WEEKEND. GFS HAS BEEN INCONSISTENT FOR FIRST OF NEXT WEEK...BUT I WILL CONTINUE WITH CHANCE OF RAIN ON MONDAY AND RAIN FREE CONDITIONS TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. BHM 64 76 60 80/ 80 30 10 0 MGM 66 78 63 84/ 90 40 10 0 .BHM...FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH TONIGHT FOR CENTRAL ALABAMA. ROSE/58
ALZ011>015-017>050-212045- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 140 PM CDT WED MAY 21 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE COUNTIES SERVED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN BIRMINGHAM. .DAY ONE (THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT)... A SLOW MOVING FRONTAL SYSTEM WILL SPREAD SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE AREA TODAY AND TONIGHT. ALTHOUGH CONDITIONS ARE NOT FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS...THERE WILL BE A THREAT OF LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL THAT MAY CAUSE FLOODING. A FLASH FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT FOR MUCH OF CENTRAL ALABAMA. ROUGHLY FROM HAMILTON TO CENTRE...AND SOUTH FROM LIVINGSTON...TO HAYNEVILLE...TO PRATTVILLE...AND EAST TO LAFAYETTE. RIVER FLOODING ALSO CONTINUES ACROSS THE AREA. SEE SPECIFIC FLOOD WARNINGS AND STATEMENTS FOR DETAILED INFORMATION. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN (THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY)... SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS MAY LINGER INTO THURSDAY MORNING ACROSS EASTERN PORTIONS OF THE FORECAST AREA. RAINFALL SHOULD BE ENDING FROM WEST TO EAST THROUGH THE DAY THURSDAY. ADDITIONAL RAINFALL THAT WILL FALL ON WEDNESDAY IS LIKELY TO AGGRAVATE RIVERS ACROSS THE AREA. ANY CURRENT FLOODING MAY BE PROLONGED...AND ADDITIONAL FLOODING IS POSSIBLE INTO THE WEEKEND. NO OTHER HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF SEVERE STORM SPOTTERS SHOULD NOT BE NECESSARY. ACTIVATION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL MAY BE NEEDED TONIGHT...DUE TO POTENTIAL FLOODING CONCERNS.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
The Sucarnoochee River at Livingston was above flood stage of 18 feet during this time period. The river crested at 18.35 feet on May 21 around 5 pm CDT.
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, May 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: 5360706.