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, 2:00 AM CST, 0 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM, AL 300 AM CDT WED MAY 21 2003 LOOKS LIKE A WET 24 HOURS OR SO FOR THE FCST AREA. FRONT PUSHING INTO AREA TODAY WILL SLOW WITH WAVE DEVELOPING ALONG THE FRONT IN SW AL TODAY AND MOVING ENE INTO WRN GA BY THU MORNING. ETA AND MM5 BOTH SHOWING HEAVIEST RAINFALL STAYING TO WEST OF BHM AREA TODAY WITH 1 TO 2 INCHES POSSIBLE. WITH FFG STILL FAIRLY LOW WILL ISSUE FFA FOR THIS PART OF CWA FOR TODAY. HOWEVER...BELIEVE AS WAVE MOVES ALONG FRONT TNGT AND COMBINES WITH UPR LVL DIVEREGENCE AND HIGH PW VALUES...WE WILL SEE HEAVIER RAINFALL DEVELOP TNGT...ESPECIALLY AFTER 06Z IN SOME PART OF E-CNTRL ALABAMA. THIS AREA WELL DEPICTED IN HPC FCST OF EXCESSIVE RAINFALL. WILL NOT ISSUE FFA FOR TNGT ATTM...BUT WILL MENTION LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL POSSIBLE TNGT FOR AREAS EAST OF TODAYS FFA. DAY SHIFT WILL DEFINITELY NEED TO MONITOR SITUATION CLOSELY. GFS MOVES LOW EWD A LITTLE QUICKER THAN THE ETA SO WILL USE A BLEND AND KEEP SOME LINGERING POPS IN FOR SERN SECTIONS FOR EARLY THURSDAY. FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY SHOULD BE DRY PERIOD...BUT GFS FCSTG ANOTHER FRONT TO MOVE SE THROUGH THE AREA MEMORIAL DAY SO WILL INCLUDE CHANCE OF SHOWERS/TSTMS FOR MONDAY. DRY WEATHER SHOULD RETURN ON TUESDAY AS FRONT MOVES SOUTHEAST OUT OF AREA AND DRIER AIR RETURNS. BHM 072/060 078/057 080 8811 MGM 076/065 080/061 082 7821 .BHM...FLASH FLOOD WATCH TODAY ALZ011>015-022-023-030-031-
ALZ011>015-017>050-202100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 124 PM CDT TUE MAY 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)... SHOWERS AND SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO INCREASE IN COVERAGE ACROSS THE AREA RIGHT ON INTO THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. ALTHOUGH CONDITIONS ARE NOT CONDUCIVE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS...THERE WILL BE A THREAT OF LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL THAT MAY CAUSE FLOODING. RIVER FLOODING ALSO CONTINUES ACROSS THE AREA. SEE SPECIFIC RIVER FLOOD WARNINGS AND STATEMENTS FOR DETAILED INFORMATION. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN (WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY)... THE THREAT FOR HEAVY RAINFALL AND FLOODING WILL CONTINUE INTO EARLY WEDNESDAY....AND SHOULD FINALLY DIMINISH WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON OR WEDNESDAY EVENING. DEPENDING ON THE AMOUNT OF RAIN THAT FALLS TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY... RIVER FLOODING MAY BECOME AGGRAVATED ONCE AGAIN THROUGH THE MIDDLE AND END OF THE WEEK. NO OTHER HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF SEVERE STORM SPOTTERS SHOULD NOT BE NECESSARY THROUGH TONIGHT. ACTIVATION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL MAY BE NEEDED TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY...DUE TO POTENTIAL FLOODING CONCERNS.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
The Coosa River at Childersburg was above the flood stage of 402 feet during this period. A crest of 403.20 feet occurred at 10 am, May 22.
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: 5360841.