August finally marked the first substantial rainfall for the Central Tennessee Valley since we entered into the heart of the drought in early 2006. The month began rather uneventfully with a series of mainly dry cold fronts.
Every event with a place to put it; 7 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 episode as NWS HUN wrote it up.
August finally marked the first substantial rainfall for the Central Tennessee Valley since we entered into the heart of the drought in early 2006. The month began rather uneventfully with a series of mainly dry cold fronts. The parade of cold fronts was stopped just after mid-month as Tropical Storm Fay approached Florida. No measurable rain was observed between the 13th and 23rd although Huntsville reported trace amounts on six of those eleven days. The big rainmaker was Tropical Storm Fay, which brought between two and eight inches of rain to the area.
For most of the Tennessee Valley, this was the first substantially above-normal rainfall month of 2008, and in Huntsville, the first since October 2006 that was above normal at all. The calendar day total of 2.19 inches from August 25th was also the most rainfall to occur in a calendar day since November 15th, 2006.
River base-flow actually increased as a result of Fay in North Central and Northeast Alabama, the first sign of improvement in stream-flows from the drought. Deep groundwater also recovered to near average, and soil moisture reached near average levels for the first time in about two years.
Drought conditions were generally status-quo during the month, with D2 /Severe Drought/ to D3 /Extreme Drought/ reported in central and eastern portions of north Alabama. Some improvement was noted at the end of the month as a result of Fay, limiting /D2/ conditions to only Jackson and DeKalb Counties.
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 Jul 31, 11:30 PM CST, 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 1230 AM CDT FRI AUG 1 2008 .UPDATE...06Z TAFS. && .AVIATION... FOG DEVELOPMENT IS THE MAIN CONCERN THRU THE TAF PD. MVFR CONDITIONS ARE CURRENTLY OCCURRING AT HSV AND VFR AT MSL...BUT CIRRUS FROM EARLIER STORMS MAY BE PREVENTING VISBYS FROM DROPPING FURTHER ATTM. EXPECT CONDITIONS TO SLOWLY DETERIORATE OVER THE NEXT FEW HOURS. THERE IS A HIGHER PROBABILITY OF IFR FOG AT MSL THAN HSV...BUT BOTH SITES SHOULD SEE AT LEAST BRIEF IFR CONDITIONS AROUND SUNRISE. ONCE THE FOG DISSIPATES MID-MORNING...VFR CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED THRU THE REST OF THE PD WITH N WINDS 5KT OR LESS. && .DISCUSSION...ISSUED 347 PM CDT THU JUL 31 2008... FOR FRIDAY...HAVE RETAINED ISOLD POPS IN SRN AREAS OWING TO THE POSSIBILITY OF LINGERING BOUNDARIES IN SLIGHTLY RICHER THETA-E AIR THERE. BUT LOW-MID LEVEL DRYING AND DEVELOPING INVERSION 700-800MB SHOULD KEEP CONVECTION MOSTLY AT BAY. A WEAK COLD FRONT IS STILL PROGGED TO MOVE SWRD THROUGH THE AREA ON SATURDAY. STILL THINK THAT A DRY PASSAGE IS LIKELY...ALTHOUGH MAY SOME ISOLD CONVECTION JUST TO OUR EAST. ITS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT THIS IS ONLY A COLD FRONT IN NAME AS IT WILL BE A HIGHLY MODIFIED CANADIAN AIRMASS...BUT WILL OFFER LOWER DEWPOINTS FOR THE AREA FOR A FEW DAYS. WE MAY EVEN SEE DEWPOINTS MIXING DOWN INTO THE 50S IN SOME AREAS ON SUNDAY AND MONDAY AFTERNOON...BUT GRIDS WILL JUST SHOW LOW 60S FOR NOW. FCST LOOKS TO REMAIN DRY AND QUITE HOT FROM SUNDAY THROUGH WED AS THE LARGE UPR RIDGE IN THE CENTRAL CONUS EXPANDS EWRD. 500MB HEIGHTS INCREASE TO A MAX OF 595DAM AS THE UPR RIDGE CENTER BUILDS OVHD THE TN VALLEY TUES INTO WED. AFTN HIGH TEMPS FROM SUN TO WED WILL GENERALLY BE IN THE MID/UPR 90S WITH HEAT INDICES CLIMBING INTO THE 100-105 RANGE...ESPECIALLY LATER IN THIS PERIOD. HEAT ADVISORIES MAY BE WARRANTED EARLY NEXT WEEK. THE RIDGE SHOULD BEGIN TO BUILD TO OUR EAST AROUND MID TO LATE WEEK...WITH THE SFC HIGH BECOMING MORE ESTABLISHED NEAR THE EAST COAST AT THAT TIME. THIS WILL ALLOW FOR A SWRLY RETURN FLOW SETTING UP AND THE POTENTIAL FOR INCREASED MOISTURE/INSTABILITY BY THURS. THUS...HAVE PUT IN A 20 POP AT THAT TIME. && .HUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AL...NONE. TN...NONE. && UPDATE/AVIATION...BCC PREV DISCUSSION...KDW.03
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 1055 PM CDT THU JUL 31 2008 ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-011000- LAUDERDALE-COLBERT-FRANKLIN AL-LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-MADISON-MORGAN- MARSHALL-JACKSON-DE KALB-CULLMAN-MOORE-LINCOLN-FRANKLIN TN- 1055 PM CDT THU JUL 31 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT... THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. PATCHY FOG IS EXPECTED ACROSS THE REGION OVERNIGHT DUE TO LINGERING MOISTURE FROM RAINFALL ON THURSDAY. THE FOG MAY BECOME LOCALLY DENSE IN AREAS THAT RECEIVED HEAVY RAINFALL OR IN OTHER TYPICALLY FOGGY LOCATION. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY... THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. A LARGE AREA OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL GRADUALLY SHIFT EAST FROM THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN PLAINS THE FIRST PART OF NEXT WEEK. AS THIS OCCURS...VERY HOT CONDITIONS CAN BE EXPECTED...WITH AFTERNOON HIGH TEMPERATURES RANGING FROM 95 TO 100 DEGREES. THE ADDED HUMIDITY WILL SIGNIFICANTLY ELEVATE HEAT STRESS LEVELS. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. BCC
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
708 PM CDT THU JUL 31 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0355 PM TSTM WND DMG 3 NNW FAIRVIEW 34.30N 86.70W
07/31/2008 CULLMAN AL EMERGENCY MNGR
TREES WERE DOWNED ALONG CR 1544 IN THE FAIRVIEW
COMMUNITY.
0555 PM TSTM WND DMG 3 NNW MOULTON 34.53N 87.29W
07/31/2008 LAWRENCE AL EMERGENCY MNGR
A TREE WAS BLOWN DOWN ACROSS CR 240 NORTH OF MOULTON.
0600 PM TSTM WND DMG 6 NNE MOULTON 34.56N 87.26W
07/31/2008 LAWRENCE AL EMERGENCY MNGR
AN OUTBUILDING WAS BLOWN ACROSS CR 214 NORTHEAST OF
MOULTON
&&
DLPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
1029 PM CDT THU JUL 31 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0355 PM TSTM WND DMG 3 NNW FAIRVIEW 34.30N 86.70W
07/31/2008 CULLMAN AL EMERGENCY MNGR
TREES WERE DOWNED ALONG CR 1544 IN THE FAIRVIEW
COMMUNITY.
0555 PM TSTM WND DMG 3 NNW MOULTON 34.53N 87.29W
07/31/2008 LAWRENCE AL EMERGENCY MNGR
A TREE WAS BLOWN DOWN ACROSS CR 240 NORTH OF MOULTON.
0600 PM TSTM WND DMG 6 NNE MOULTON 34.56N 87.26W
07/31/2008 LAWRENCE AL EMERGENCY MNGR
AN OUTBUILDING WAS BLOWN ACROSS CR 214 NORTHEAST OF
MOULTON
0610 PM TSTM WND DMG 1 E BOONSHILL 35.21N 86.72W
07/31/2008 LINCOLN TN LAW ENFORCEMENT
TREE DOWNED ON HUGHEY RD
&&
RBThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
7 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Drought conditions improved to below the /D2/ Severe category.
Drought conditions improved to below the /D2/ Severe category.
Drought conditions improved to below the /D2/ Severe category.
Drought conditions improved to below the /D2/ Severe category.
Drought conditions improved to below the /D2/ Severe category.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alabama in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Alabama, August 2008
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: 129226, 129227, 129228, 129229, 129230, 129244, 129245.