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 Huntsville, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 7, 1:49 PM CST, 5 hours 11 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 150 PM CST TUE DEC 7 2004 .DISCUSSION... WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES. PLENTY OF MUCH NEEDED SUNSHINE ACROSS THE FA THIS AFTERNOON BUT STILL DEALING WITH A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF STANDING WATER AND RESIDUAL RUNOFF RIVER FLOODING PROBLEMS. COLD FRONT APPEARS TO BE JUST EAST OF THE FA WITH DPS NOW FALLING INTO THE UPPER 40S. STILL ONE MORE LOBE OF S/WV ENERGY THAT HAS TO SWING EWD THROUGH THE OH VALLEY AS EVIDENCED BY BROKEN CU FIELD FROM W TN INTO N MS. THESE CLOUDS SHOULD DISSIPATE QUICKLY WITH SUNSET WITH A MAINLY CLEAR NIGHT ON TAP. GRADIENT SHOULD REMAIN TIGHT ENOUGH TO KEEP LIGHT WINDS UP THROUGH THE NIGHT WHICH SHOULD PREVENT A WIDESPREAD FOG EVENT OVER SATURATED GROUND AND LARGE AREAS OF STANDING WATER. WILL HAVE TO KEEP AN EYE ON WIND TRENDS THROUGH THE EVENING. ANOTHER NICE...MILD DAY ON WEDNESDAY WITH HIGH RIGHT OVER THE AREA. CONDITIONS BEGIN TO CHANGE QUICKLY AGAIN BY WED NIGHT AS QUICK MOVING UPPER TROF MOVES INTO THE MS VALLEY. A WEAK SFC WAVE WILL DEVELOP IN THE VICINITY OF THE GULF COAST WITH ANOTHER OVERRUNNING RAIN EVENT FOR THE TN VALLEY. DURATION THIS TIME AROUND WILL BE SHORTER LASTING FROM LATE WED NIGHT INTO THU AFTERNOON. BASED ON MODEL CONSENSUS OF SPEED OF UPPER TROF HEAVIEST QPF AXIS SHOULD REMAIN JUST SOUTH AND EAST OF THE AREA THAT RECEIVED THE HEAVIEST RAIN THIS GO AROUND. STILL LOOKING AT 1/2 TO ONE INCH AMOUNTS ACROSS MOST OF THE AREA. IF UPPER TROF IS A BIT SLOWER AMOUNTS COULD BE A LITTLE HIGHER. IT OBVIOUSLY WILL NOT TAKE MUCH ADDITIONAL RAIN TO AGGRAVATE FLOODING PROBLEMS. UPPER LOW WILL CLOSE OFF OVER THE OH VALLEY ON FRIDAY WITH SEVERAL WEAK S/WV ROTATING AROUND IT. EXPECT A LOW STRATOCU DECK AND PERHAPS SOME SPRINKLES ACROSS THE AREA THROUGH THE DAY ON FRIDAY. CLOUDS WILL BE SLOW TO DECREASE BUT AS UPPER TROF AXIS SHIFTS EASTWARD ON SATURDAY EXPECT SOME SUN TO RETURN. WILL SEE TEMPS REBOUND A BIT ON SUNDAY ON BACK SIDE OF SFC HIGH BEFORE STRONG...BUT PROBABLY DRY...FRONT SURGES THROUGH ARE SUNDAY NIGHT WITH A TREND TOWARDS MUCH COOLER WEATHER. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... HUNTSVILLE 41 65 50 62 / 0 0 70 70 SHOALS 40 64 49 62 / 0 0 70 70 CULLMAN 42 66 51 63 / 0 0 70 70 FAYETTEVILLE 40 63 48 60 / 0 0 70 70 FT PAYNE 42 66 48 61 / 0 0 70 70 && .HUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AL...NONE. TN...NONE. && 09
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 1230 PM CST TUE DEC 7 2004 ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-080330- COLBERT-CULLMAN-DE KALB-FRANKLIN AL-FRANKLIN TN-JACKSON-LAUDERDALE- LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-LINCOLN-MADISON-MARSHALL-MOORE-MORGAN- 1230 PM CST TUE DEC 7 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND PARTS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...(TODAY AND TONIGHT)... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. ADDITIONAL RAINFALL IS NOT EXPECTED THROUGH TONIGHT. HOWEVER... RUNOFF FROM THE RECENT HEAVY RAINFALL WILL CAUSE CONTINUED FLOODING...MAINLY ALONG RIVERS AND CREEKS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...(WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY)... THE PROBABILITY OF WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. A VERY BRIEF RESPITE FROM THE WET WEATHER WILL OCCUR ON WEDNESDAY. ANOTHER ROUND OF RAINFALL WILL ARRIVE LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT...LASTING INTO THURSDAY. AT THIS TIME...RAINFALL AMOUNTS ARE GENERALLY EXPECTED TO APPROACH 1 INCH...WITH SOME ISOLATED HIGHER AMOUNTS POSSIBLE MAINLY SOUTH OF THE TENNESSEE RIVER AND EAST OF I-65. THIS PRECIPITATION...COMBINED WITH VERY SATURATED SOIL CONDITIONS FROM THE RECENT RAINFALL...WILL BRING A RENEWED THREAT OF LOCALIZED FLOODING...MAINLY IN LOWER LYING AND POOR DRAINAGE AREAS. IN ADDITION...RUNOFF COULD POSE A FLOOD THREAT FOR MANY CREEKS AND STREAMS THAT WILL STILL BE NEAR BANKFULL. A COLD FRONT WILL SWEEP EAST BY LATE THURSDAY...BRINGING AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF DRIER AND COOLER WEATHER FOR FRIDAY AND THROUGH THE WEEKEND. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL IS NOT ANTICIPATED. MR
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
126 PM CST TUE DEC 07 2004
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0400 AM TSTM WND DMG CHEROKEE 34.76N 87.97W
12/07/2004 COLBERT AL EMERGENCY MNGR
AWNING BLOWN OFF BUILDING.
&&
PNGThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
An 88 year old man driving in a pickup truck was washed away into the Elk River. The driver of the truck was attempting to ford through the Elk River as it was flowing over the highway as per Lincoln County EMA.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flood, Lincoln | 2004-12-07 | 88 | Male | In Water | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Tennessee in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Tennessee, December 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: 5432306.