10 flash flood, 1 thunderstorm wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 10 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 Huntsville, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Oct 19, 2:53 AM CST, 1 hour 27 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
353 AM CDT TUE OCT 19 2004
.DISCUSSION...
RARE MID-OCTOBER SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK CONTINUES ACROSS THE
TENNESSEE VALLEY. OVERNIGHT...MOST OF THE ACTION HAS BEEN TO OUR
NORTH AND WEST...BUT IT LOOKS LIKE WE WILL BE GETTING BACK INTO THE
HEAVY ACTIVITY THIS MORNING.
SHORT TERM (TODAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT)...
AT 08Z...RADAR SHOWED NUMEROUS TSRA RIGHT ON THE HUN CWFA BORDER. IN
GENERAL...THIS ACTIVITY IS MOVING EAST WITH A BIT OF A SERLY DRIFT.
I FEEL CONFIDENT THAT AT SOME POINT TODAY...EVERYONE WILL GET SOME
RAIN AND THUS HAVE GONE CATEGORICAL ON POPS. WILL ALSO BE CONTINUING
TO MENTION THE POSSIBILITY OF SEVERE. SHEAR REMAINS HIGH...WITH H8
WINDS OUT OF THE WSW AT 40 TO 45 KTS...AND SFC WINDS OUT OF THE DUE
SOUTH AT 10 TO 20 MPH. HAIL IS A POSSIBILITY...BUT THE GREATEST
THREAT WILL BE HEAVY RAIN AND THE POTENTIAL FOR THE STRONG WINDS
ALOFT TO TRANSPORT DOWN TO THE SURFACE. THERE IS ALSO STILL THE
THREAT OF TORNADOES TODAY WITH THE STRONG SHEAR. IN OTHER WORDS...
THERE IS A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING TODAY.
MEANWHILE...WITH S/SW WINDS...ANY BREAKS IN THE PRECIP WILL LEND
THEMSELVES TO A SPIKE IN TEMPS. THIS IS MOST LIKELY TO OCCUR IN THE
SHOALS THIS AFTERNOON...AND IN THE EAST THIS MORNING. BUT IN THE
EAST...WHERE TEMPS/DEWS REMAIN LOW...THAT POSSIBLE RISE WOULD JUST
BRING THEM TO WHERE EVERYONE ELSE WILL ALREADY BE ENDING UP. LOW
CLOUDS HAVE SOCKED IN MUCH OF THE DEEP SOUTH...ANY BREAKS WILL NOT
OCCUR UNTIL MIDDAY OR LATER. WILL DISCUSS THE FLOOD THREAT IN A BIT.
ANY SHRA/TSRA THAT REDEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON WILL...AS ON MONDAY...
LINGER INTO THE EVENING HOURS...AND HAVE RAISED POPS TO REFLECT
THIS. I MAY STILL NOT BE HIGH ENOUGH. TOOK LOWS A LITTLE WARMER WITH
SOUTHERLY FLOW CONTINUING. BUT WINDS WILL BE DROPPING OFF AND SO ANY
BREAKS IN THE CLOUDS (OR MAYBE EVEN WITHOUT THEM)...PATCHY FOG...
POSSIBLY DENSE...COULD OCCUR. HAVE INCLUDED THIS IN THE FORECAST.
WILL KEEP IN SLIGHT CHANCE POPS ON WEDNESDAY. ALTHOUGH RIDGING
STARTS TO BUILD IN...THERE IS STILL SOME UPLIFT AND THE MOIST AND
UNSTABLE AIRMASS ISNT GONE YET. IF WE DO GET TSTM DEVELOPMENT
WEDNESDAY IT COULD AGAIN BE SEVERE.
MIDDLE PORTION (THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY)...
STILL BELIEVE THURSDAY AND FRIDAY WILL BE DRY...WITH UPPER RIDGING
DEVELOPING TO THE WEST...THIS SHOULD DRAG SOME SEMBLANCE OF A FRONT
THROUGH THE AREA...AND COOL US DOWN A BIT (AT LEAST AT NIGHT).
MODELS ARE KIND OF ALL OVER THE PLACE SO FOR NOW I TOOK A COMPROMISE
SOLUTION...WHICH IS NOT MUCH DIFFERENT THAN THE GOING FORECAST.
DID NOT TOUCH THE EXTENDED (SUNDAY/MONDAY)...IF WEATHER/TIME ALLOWS
I WILL LIKELY MAKE SOME TWEAKS IN THE GRIDS LATER TONIGHT.
HYDROLOGY...
TRAINING TSTMS ARE GOING TO BE A BIG THREAT TODAY...ESPECIALLY IN
LAUDERDALE AND SOUTHERN MIDDLE TN. HEAVY RAINFALL IS LIKELY...AND
SOME ISOLATED SPOTS ALREADY SAW COPIOUS RAIN WITH THE TWO SUPERCELLS
YESTERDAY. WE WILL BE CLOSELY MONITORING FLASH FLOOD POTENTIAL TODAY.
SEVERE CLIMATOLOGY...
JUST A BRIEF NOTE. OCTOBER TORNADOES ARE RARE. THE LAST WERE TWO F0
TORNADOES IN OCTOBER 2002. BEFORE THAT...WE HAVE TO GO ALL THE WAY
BACK TO 1974 TO FIND ONE. THE ONLY STRONG (F2 OR GREATER) TORNADO
OUTBREAKS IN OCTOBER WERE IN 1909 AND 1967.
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
HUNTSVILLE 76 64 81 61 / 100 40 20 10
SHOALS 79 66 82 60 / 100 40 20 10
CULLMAN 77 66 82 62 / 100 40 20 10
FAYETTEVILLE 74 63 81 60 / 100 40 20 10
FT PAYNE 76 62 81 59 / 100 40 20 20
&&
.HUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
AL...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH UNTIL 8 AM ALL COUNTIES
(ALZ001>010-016).
TN...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH UNTIL 8 AM ALL COUNTIES
(TNZ076-096-097).
&&
JE/23HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 510 AM CDT TUE OCT 19 2004 ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-191800- COLBERT-CULLMAN-DE KALB-FRANKLIN AL-FRANKLIN TN-JACKSON-LAUDERDALE- LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-LINCOLN-MADISON-MARSHALL-MOORE-MORGAN- 510 AM CDT TUE OCT 19 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND PARTS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...(TODAY AND TONIGHT)... FOR THE REST OF THIS MORNING...A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE EAST ACROSS THE TENNESSEE VALLEY. IN STRONGER STORMS EXPECT WIND GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH...FREQUENT LIGHTNING...PENNY SIZE HAIL AND HEAVY RAIN WITH LOCALIZED FLOODING POSSIBLE. FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING...WITH DAYTIME HEATING... THUNDERSTORMS WILL LIKELY BECOME STRONG TO SEVERE WITH DAMAGING WINDS OF 60 MPH...HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF QUARTERS AND HEAVY RAIN. THE BEST TIME FOR SEVERE WEATHER WILL BE FROM 1 PM TO 8 PM. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...(WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY)... THE PROBABILITY OF WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ON WEDNESDAY AND AGAIN ON SATURDAY AND SUNDAY. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL MAY BE NECESSARY THIS AFTERNOON. SS
The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 101 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:11 UTC.
10 flash flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Several inches of water was covering Cave Street in Tuscumbia.
Several inches of water was over area roads in the Muscle Shoals area.
Water was over the road along Pulaski Pike and Bo Howard road resulting in a car being washed into a ditch.
Several inches of water was over a few roads in the Scottsboro area.
Several roads were under water
Several roads were reported to be under water in western Cullman county.
Minor flash flooding was observed in Cullman with several roads with several inches of water reported to be over the road.
Several inches of water was over a few streets in Tuscumbia.
Several inches of water was over the road along County Road 15.
A few power lines were blown down by thunderstorm winds.
Several inches of water was over County Road 205 and Highway 431 in Guntersville.
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, October 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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5427288, 5427289, 5427290, 5427291, 5427292, 5427293, 5427294, 5427296, 5427295, 5427297, 5427298.