Lightning from afternoon thunderstorms caused damage to at least one house.
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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 BMX wrote it up.
Lightning from afternoon thunderstorms caused damage to at least one house.
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 May 15, 10:32 AM CST, 50 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 1132 AM CDT THU MAY 15 2008 .UPDATE... DID A QUICK UPDATE TO LOWER AFTERNOON TEMPS AND RAISE POPS IN SE. AM NOTING BACK EDGE OF RAIN IN EASTERN MS...CLICKING ALONG AT A PRETTY GOOD PACE. BACK EDGE WILL BE WORKING INTO THE WEST DURING EARLY AFTERNOON. CONCERNED ABOUT POSSIBLE FORMATION OF A GRAVITY WAVE ON THE BACK EDGE. ALSO...WATCHING STORMS TO THE SOUTH AS THEY MOVE UP. SOME CONCERN THEY MAY MOVE INTO THE SOUTHERN TIER. JONES/90 && .AVIATION...12Z TAF DISCUSSION. MESSY NEXT 24 HOURS NOW UNDERWAY AT BHM/EET/TCL...AND WILL SPREAD TO REMAINDER OF TAF SITES BY 15Z. CONFIDENT THE NEXT 24 HOURS WILL BE TOUGH...NOT THAT CONFIDENT ON TIMING OF WORST CONDITIONS. EXPECT SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THIS MORNING...WITH PERHAPS A MORE INTENSE PERIOD OF ACTIVITY 1PM TO 7PM WITH THE HEATING OF THE DAY. AFTER THE FIRST CLUSTER MOVES OUT...SOME UNCERTAINTY AS TO WHETHER THERE WILL BE MORE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS...OR WHETHER THERE WILL BE LOW CEILINGS. EITHER WAY...EXPECT WIDESPREAD MVFR CONDITIONS AND AT LEAST TEMPORARY IFR CONDITIONS THROUGH TOMORROW MORNING...WITH LOW CEILINGS AND LOW VISIBILITY IN RAIN AND/OR MIST. JD/81 && .BMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && 81/88/10
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A tree that was struck by lightning fell onto a house and briefly trapped its occupants.
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, May 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: 108777.