1 cold/wind chill, 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 18, 3:49 AM CST, 11 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 449 AM CDT WED AUG 18 2004 .SYNOPSIS...DRY AND WARMER WEATHER WILL PREVAIL OVER MUCH OF AREA TODAY AND THURSDAY. MOISTURE WILL INCREASE AS SOUTHERLY WINDS DEVELOP BY THE END OF THE WEEK. A LOW PRESSURE DISTURBANCE PASSING THROUGH AND AN APPROACHING COLD FRONT WILL BRING CHANCES FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO THE AREA THIS WEEKEND INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK. && .SHORT TERM...(TODAY THROUGH FRIDAY) THE MAIN SHORT TERM FORECAST CONCERN IS THE PROBABILITY OF RAIN THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. AT 430 AM CDT...SKIES WERE MOSTLY CLEAR OVER ALABAMA. SURFACE TEMPERATURES WERE COOL...MAINLY IN THE 60S WITH DEWPOINTS WITHIN A DEGREE OR TWO. PATCHY FOG WAS REDUCING VISIBILITIES TO 3 MILES OR LESS IN MANY LOCATIONS. SHORT TERM MODELS ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT AND WILL NOT DEVIATE FROM THEM MUCH. TODAY...DRY AND WARMER WEATHER CAN BE EXPECTED OVER THE FORECAST AREA. PATCHY MORNING FOG WILL DISSIPATE BY MID MORNING... THOUGH HAZY SKIES WILL PREVAIL. WEAK WINDS WILL MAKE THE AIR STAGNANT TODAY. A RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE IN PLACE OVER ALABAMA AND WARM STABLE AIR ALOFT WILL SQUASH ANY CONVECTION THIS AFTERNOON. TONIGHT WILL ONCE AGAIN BE DRY...THOUGH NOT QUITE AS COOL. PATCHY FOG WILL LIKELY DEVELOP AFTER MIDNIGHT. THURSDAY WILL BE A FEW DEGREES WARMER THAN TODAY AS THE RECENT COOL AIRMASS RETREATS...ALLOWING A WEAK SOUTHERLY FLOW TO DEVELOP. DECIDED TO REMOVE RAIN CHANCES MOST PLACES AS HIGH PRESSURE SHOULD KEEP THINGS DRY. STILL LEFT A SMALL CHANCE OF AFTERNOON SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS SOUTH WHERE MOISTURE WILL BE DEEPEST AND A POSSIBLE SEA BREEZE MAY SPARK A STORM OR TWO AS IT MOVES NORTHWARD. THURSDAY NIGHT...MOISTURE WILL CONTINUE TO INCREASE OVER THE AREA. STILL KEPT LOW RAIN CHANCES EVERYWHERE AS THE AIR BECOMES MOIST AND UNSTABLE. ON FRIDAY...DECIDED TO BUMP UP RAIN CHANCES TO LIKELY IN THE AFTERNOON ALL BUT FAR EASTERN PARTS OF THE STATE AS DEEP MOISTURE AND LIFT WITH STRENGTHENING LOW LEVEL WINDS WILL HELP TO INITIATE AND MOVE SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE AREA. A FEW STORMS MAY PRODUCE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. AS FOR SHORT TERM TEMPERATURES...GENERALLY WENT A FEW DEGREES BELOW MODEL GUIDANCE...ESPECIALLY FOR TEMPERATURES TODAY AND TONIGHT...AS THEY SEEM TO BE TOO WARM AS THE RECENT COOL AIRMASS OVER THE AREA WILL BE SLOW TO MODIFY AND MOVE OUT OF THE AREA. && .LONG TERM...(SATURDAY THROUGH TUESDAY) INCREASED RAIN CHANCES TO LIKELY ON SATURDAY WITH MODELS INDICATING A FAIRLY STRONG LOW PRESSURE DISTURBANCE PASSING BY. AGAIN...LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BE POSSIBLE ON WITH THIS FEATURE. BEYOND SATURDAY...DID NOT CHANGE ONGOING FORECAST. APPEARS MAINLY AFTERNOON SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE AROUND EACH DAY AS A FRONT STALLS NEARBY. SEASONABLE TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED AS WELL. && .PRELIMINARY NUMBERS... GADSDEN 89 64 91 67 88 / 00 00 10 20 ANNISTON 89 66 91 69 88 / 00 00 10 20 BIRMINGHAM 88 67 90 71 87 / 00 00 10 20 TUSCALOOSA 90 65 92 70 89 / 00 00 10 20 CALERA 89 67 91 70 88 / 00 00 10 20 AUBURN 88 68 90 70 88 / 00 00 10 20 MONTGOMERY 93 67 94 71 90 / 00 00 10 20 TROY 90 65 92 70 89 / 00 00 10 20 && .BMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && MBS/91
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 100 PM CDT TUE AUG 17 2004 ALZ011>015-017>050-181800- MARION-LAMAR-FAYETTE-WINSTON-WALKER-BLOUNT-ETOWAH-CALHOUN-CHEROKEE- CLEBURNE-PICKENS-TUSCALOOSA-JEFFERSON-SHELBY-ST. CLAIR-TALLADEGA- CLAY-RANDOLPH-SUMTER-GREENE-HALE-PERRY-BIBB-CHILTON-COOSA-TALLAPOOSA- CHAMBERS-MARENGO-DALLAS-AUTAUGA-LOWNDES-ELMORE-MONTGOMERY-MACON- BULLOCK-LEE-RUSSELL-PIKE-BARBOUR- 100 PM CDT TUE AUG 17 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE COUNTIES SERVED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM. .DAY ONE...(THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT). NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. WET MICROBURST POTENTIAL: BIRMINGHAM...NONE. MONTGOMERY...NONE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...(WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY). NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. ACTIVATION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AND STORM SPOTTERS IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.
The morning low temperature measured at Dannelly Field was 63 degrees. This temperature tied the record low for this date. The temperature last fell to 63 degrees in 1992.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alabama in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Alabama, August 2004
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: 5416571.