Abundant low level moisture ahead of a strong cold front aided the development of a quasi-linear convective system (QLCS). One of the storms produced heavy damage in northwestern Lauderdale County Alabama.
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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.
Abundant low level moisture ahead of a strong cold front aided the development of a quasi-linear convective system (QLCS). One of the storms produced heavy damage in northwestern Lauderdale County Alabama.
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 20, 5:40 PM CST, 50 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 540 PM CST SAT DEC 20 2008 .UPDATE...00Z AVIATION. && .AVIATION... SURFACE COLD FRONT ANALYZED AT 2330Z EXTENDING AS PER 88-D RETURNS AND SURFACE OBS FROM JUST NORTHWEST OF LAWRENCEBURG TENNESSEE... EXTENDING SOUTHWEST TO NEAR OXFORD MISSISSIPPI. EMBEDDED TSRA ALONG LINE OF SHRA HEADING FOR SHOALS...SO UPDATED TIMING INVOLVING 00-02Z TIME FRAME FOR TSRA POTENTIAL AT MSL. ALSO TWEAKED SHRA/EMBEDDED TSRA TIMING FOR HSV UP AN HOUR TO ACCOUNT FOR FRONTAL MOVEMENT AND EXPECTED 1-2 HOURS OF PRECIP ALONG BOUNDARY. KEPT IN GUSTY NORTHWEST WINDS IN TAFS OVERNIGHT AND INTO SUNDAY AS STRONG PRESSURE GRADIENT SHOULD CONTINUE ACROSS THE FA. SCATTERED LOW CLOUDS AROUND 2500 FEET SHOULD CLEAR THE FORECAST AREA (FA) FROM 14-15Z TIME FRAME ACROSS THE AREA. && .DISCUSSION...FAIRLY COMPLEX WX PATTERN GREETS THE TN VALLEY FOR THE START OF THE HOLIDAY WEEK. WARM FRONT/STATIONARY BOUNDARY REMAINS DRAPED ACROSS THE AREA FROM NRN MS INTO EXTREME AND ON INTO NC. ALMOST ALL OF THE LIGHT/MOD PRECIP THUS FAR HAS BEEN OVERRUNNING THIS SFC BOUNDARY ACROSS MOST OF THE TN VALLEY...AND THIS TREND LOOKS TO PERSIST THROUGH THE REMAINING AFTERNOON AND EVENING HRS...AHEAD OF A STRONG ARCTIC FRONT OUT OF THE CENTRAL PLAINS XPCTED TO PUSH TOWARD THE LOWER MS/TN VALLEYS OVERNIGHT. THIS SHOULD BRING AN ABRUPT END TO THE SOGGY PATTERN AS OF LATE AS STRONG CANADIAN AIR DIVES SWD THROUGH THE PLAINS STATES WITH THE SUBTROPICAL RIDGE ALOFT WEAKENING WHILE A STRONG UPPER TROUGH/LOW SWINGS TOWARD THE NE STATES BY SUN. CLOSER TO HOME...OVERALL TEMPS SHOULD BEGIN TO FALL OFF RAPIDLY ON SUN AND INTO MON AS THE POLAR HIGH MOVES EWD THROUGH THE OH AND TN VALLEYS. AS MID WEEK OR CHRISTMAS EVE APPROACHES...THE WX PATTERN ONCE AGAIN LOOKS TO DEVIATE FROM A MID DEC TREND TOWARD UNSEASONABLY WARM AND SOGGY CONDITIONS. TUE LOOKS TO BE THE TRANSITIONAL DAY AS THE SFC HIGH BEGINS TO MOVE INTO THE CENTRAL ATLANTIC BASIN ALLOWING SLY GULF FLOW TO RETURN TO THE AREA. GULF MOISTURE INFLOW IS XPCTED TO INCREASE AHEAD OF THE NEXT DEVELOPING LOW PRESSURE CENTER OVER THE CENTRAL PLAINS TUE BEFORE THE CENTER BEGINS ITS JOURNEY TOWARD THE SE REGION. WITH ENOUGH MOD ARCTIC AIR LINGERING...THE FIRST OF TUE COULD BRING SOME LIGHT FRZING RAIN/SLEET TO THE AREA MAINLY FOR AREAS ALONG AND W OF I-65 BEFORE WARMER AND MORE HUMID AIR BEGINS TO ADVECT NWD TUE AFTERNOON/EVENING. CHRISTMAS EVE IS UNFORTUNATELY WHERE THE WX LOOKS TO TURN MORE GLOOMY AS THE STAGNANT SUBTROPICAL RIDGE PATTERN RE-ESTABLISHES ITSELF ACROSS THE SE REGION. WITH ABUNDANT GULF MOISTURE IN PLACE THX TO SFC RIDGING ACROSS THE ERN GULF...RAIN CHANCES AND ABOVE NORMAL TEMPS LOOK TO MAKE THEIR RETURN THROUGH THE REMAINING HOLIDAY WEEK. WHILE THE SFC BOUNDARY...ASSOCIATED WITH THE DEVELOPING SYSTEM OVER THE CENTRAL PLAINS TUE...IS XPCTED TO MOVE S OF THE FORECAST AREA PAST MID WEEK...IF THE LATEST GLOBAL MODEL SUITES ARE CLOSE...EMBEDDED DISTURBANCES WITHIN THE SWLY FLOW PATTERN ALOFT SHOULD AT LEAST KEEP MOST OF THE REMAINING CHRISTMAS WEEK PREDOM CLOUDY WITH SHOWERS IN THE FORECAST THROUGH FRI. THE EXTENDED GUIDANCE DOES HINT AT ANOTHER COLD DOME OF ARCTIC AIR DIVING SWD OUT OF CANADA AND TOWARD THE SE STATES TOWARD THE END OF THE WEEKEND PERIOD. WHILE TIMING AND INTENSITY DIFFERENCES REMAIN QUITE UNCERTAIN...THERE IS AT LEAST THE POSSIBILITY FOR A STRONG AND CLEARING COLD FRONT TO SWEEP THROUGH AREA BY MON. && .HUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AL...NONE. TN...NONE. && DISCUSSION...DG.09 AVIATION...TT.08
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...CORRECTED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 100 PM CST SAT DEC 20 2008 ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-210500- LAUDERDALE-COLBERT-FRANKLIN AL-LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-MADISON-MORGAN- MARSHALL-JACKSON-DE KALB-CULLMAN-MOORE-LINCOLN-FRANKLIN TN- 100 PM CST SAT DEC 20 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE ALONG AND NORTH OF A SLOW-MOVING WARM FRONT THIS AFTERNOON. HEAVY RAIN IS POSSIBLE WITH RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF ONE TO TWO INCHES WHERE HEAVIER BANDS SET UP. A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL MOVE INTO THE AREA TONIGHT...WITH ADDITIONAL SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY EXPECTED ALONG AND JUST AHEAD OF IT. THE MAIN THREAT WILL BE FOR RENEWED HEAVY RAINFALL. AN ADDITIONAL ONE TO TWO INCHES OF RAIN MAY OCCUR...MUCH OF IT IN JUST A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME. WITH SATURATED SOILS AND THE EARLIER RAINFALL...THE FLOOD THREAT WILL INCREASE ESPECIALLY ALONG SMALL CREEKS AND STREAMS...AND IN URBAN AND LOW-LYING AREAS. A FEW OF THE THUNDERSTORMS MAY ALSO PRODUCE WIND GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH. BEHIND THE FRONT...AFTER MIDNIGHT...WINDS WILL GUST TO 25 TO 35 MPH AT TIMES. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY... THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. ARCTIC AIR WILL FUNNEL INTO THE TENNESSEE VALLEY ON SUNDAY AND PERSIST THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT. A PROLONGED PERIOD OF SUBFREEZING TEMPERATURES IS POSSIBLE...ESPECIALLY AT HIGHER ELEVATIONS...WHERE TEMPERATURES MAY REMAIN BELOW FREEZING FROM SUNDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH LATE TUESDAY MORNING. GUSTY NORTHWEST WINDS WILL MAKE IT FEEL EVEN COLDER...DROPPING WIND CHILLS INTO THE SINGLE DIGITS ABOVE ZERO SUNDAY NIGHT...AND POSSIBLY TO NEAR ZERO EARLY MONDAY MORNING. THERE IS A SMALL POTENTIAL FOR A BRIEF PERIOD OF FREEZING RAIN OR SLEET IN NORTHWEST ALABAMA TUESDAY MORNING IF PRECIPITATION BEGINS EARLY ENOUGH. TEMPERATURES WILL RISE ABOVE FREEZING BY 10 AM AND ANY PRECIPITATION WOULD THEN BECOME RAIN. ANOTHER STORM SYSTEM WILL PUSH TOWARD THE CENTRAL TENNESSEE VALLEY BY LATE TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. YET AGAIN...THE SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO STALL NEAR THE AREA...SO ANOTHER PERIOD OF HEAVY RAIN IS POSSIBLE TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE ON WEDNESDAY. RAIN CHANCES WILL PERSIST THROUGH THE END OF THE WEEK...WITH ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAINFALL POSSIBLE. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... FORMAL ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO REMAIN ALERT FOR FLOODING POTENTIAL AND PROVIDE ANY REPORTS OF FLOODING TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. JE
The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 67 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:30 UTC.
2 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Trees were reported down at the intersection of highway 231 and Bell Point Road. Also, trees were reported down near the intersection of Vista lane and Cabbage Patch Drive.
Severe thunderstorm winds knocked down 18 trees and heavily damaged 4 mobile homes. Two mobile homes were blown off their foundation. One roof was torn off. This damage occurred along the 7100 block of County Road 8.
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, December 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: 140656, 140661.