Thunderstorms erupted during the late night and early morning hours across north Alabama in advance of a strong storm system moving from the southern Plains into the middle Mississippi Valley. The storms evolved into a small quasi-linear convective system (QLCS) as they moved into northeast Alabama.
Every event with a place to put it. 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.
Thunderstorms erupted during the late night and early morning hours across north Alabama in advance of a strong storm system moving from the southern Plains into the middle Mississippi Valley. The storms evolved into a small quasi-linear convective system (QLCS) as they moved into northeast Alabama. A meso-cyclone developed along this line producing a short-lived EF0 tornado in eastern Marshall County.
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 Apr 9, 11:36 PM CST, 2 hours 14 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 1236 AM CDT FRI APR 10 2009 .UPDATE...FOR 06Z TAF && .AVIATION...LOWERING CLOUDS AND GUSTY SOUTHERLY WINDS WILL OCCUR AS A WARM FRONT APPROACHES THE AREA FROM THE SOUTH OVERNIGHT. SCT -TSRA ACTIVITY WILL BE POSSIBLE AT BOTH SITES. HOWEVER...DUE TO UNCERTAINTIES IN THE EXACT TIMING...A TEMPO GROUP HAS BEEN ADDED FROM 08-12Z AT BOTH TAF SITES. AS A COLD FRONT NEARS THE AREA MIDDAY TOMORROW...ANOTHER ROUND OF TSRA WILL OCCUR. LCL MVFR CONDITIONS WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THE HEAVIER STORMS THAT OCCUR. SOME TIMING UNCERTAINTY EXISTS AND HAVE INCLUDED TEMPO GROUP AT END OF PERIOD. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 842 PM CDT THU APR 9 2009/ UPDATE...OVERNIGHT THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL. MINOR ADJUSTMENTS TO TEMP AND SKY GRIDS. NO OTHER CHANGES ATTM. DISCUSSION...WELL-DEVELOPED STORM SYSTEM AFFECTING THE CENTRAL/ SOUTHERN PLAINS THIS EVENING WILL CONTINUE TO TRACK EAST TONIGHT AND FRIDAY. AS MENTIONED IN EARLIER /AFTN/ DISCUSSION...THERE IS THE POTENTIAL FOR TWO ROUNDS OF STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH THIS SYSTEM...WITH THE FIRST DEVELOPING LATE TONIGHT/EARLY FRI MRNG. AFTER MIDNIGHT...INCREASING 50+KT LLJ WILL ADVECT DEEP GULF MOISTURE ACROSS THE AREA AHEAD OF A SECONDARY WARM FRONT. STEEPENING MID LVL LAPSE RATES COINCIDENT WITH SIGNIFICANT LOW LVL MOISTURE TRANSPORT AND ASCENT WILL SUPPORT AT LEAST SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING ALONG THE MS RIVER...AROUND THE ARK/MS/TN BORDER. IMPRESSIVE THERMODYNAMICS SUGGEST THE POTENTIAL FOR A FEW STRONG TO MARGINALLY SEVERE STORMS APPROACHING NW ALABAMA...MAINLY WEST OF I-65...BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND 3 AM...THEN ACROSS NE AL/SRN TN BY 6 AM BUT FEEL THE SEVERE THREAT WILL LESSEN THE FARTHER EAST THIS INITIAL ROUND OF STORMS MOVE. HAIL OF UP TO 1 INCH IN DIAMETER APPEARS TO BE THE PRIMARY THREAT...IN ADDITION TO LCLY HEAVY RAIN AND BRIEF STRONG WIND GUSTS. EXPECT A BRIEF BREAK IN THE ACTION DURING THE MID/LATE MORNING HOURS BEFORE THE SECOND ROUND OF STORMS DEVELOP ALONG AND AHEAD OF STRONG COLD FRONT/DRY LINE. FRONTAL PASSAGE STILL APPEARS TO OCCUR WEST-TO-EAST DURING THE AFTERNOON/EARLY EVENING HOURS /BTWN 1PM AND 7PM/. STAY TUNED TO FURTHER UPDATES... CURRENT FORECAST HANDLES SITUATION WELL AND WILL ONLY MAKE MINOR ADJUSTMENTS TO ZFP AND HWO WITH EVENING UPDATES. NADLER.83 && .HUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AL...NONE. TN...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 840 PM CDT THU APR 9 2009 ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-101000- LAUDERDALE-COLBERT-FRANKLIN AL-LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-MADISON-MORGAN- MARSHALL-JACKSON-DEKALB-CULLMAN-MOORE-LINCOLN-FRANKLIN TN- 840 PM CDT THU APR 9 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT... SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE AFTER MIDNIGHT AS A WARM FRONT APPROACHES THE AREA. A FEW STORMS COULD BE STRONG TO MARGINALLY SEVERE...CAPABLE OF PRODUCING HAIL...LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN AND BRIEF GUSTY WINDS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY... THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP AHEAD OF A COLD FRONT AND MOVE ACROSS THE CENTRAL TENNESSEE VALLEY...FROM LATE MORNING THROUGH THE EARLY EVENING HOURS ON FRIDAY. THUNDERSTORMS COULD QUICKLY BECOME SEVERE...WITH DAMAGING WINDS...LARGE HAIL...AND ISOLATED TORNADOES AS THE PRIMARY THREATS. ISOLATED INSTANCES OF FLASH FLOODING WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE. THE LATEST INFORMATION SUGGESTS TIMING FOR SEVERE WEATHER WILL OCCUR IN NORTHWEST ALABAMA AROUND 11AM TO 4PM...NORTH CENTRAL ALABAMA FROM 1PM TO 6PM...AND NORTHEASTERN ALABAMA AND SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE AROUND 2PM TO 8PM. ANOTHER STRONG SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO IMPACT THE AREA AGAIN FROM SUNDAY NIGHT INTO MONDAY...WITH STRONG TO PERHAPS SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL MAY BE NEEDED FRIDAY MORNING THROUGH FRIDAY EVENING. AMP.24/DJN.83/KDW.03
The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 107 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 07:52 UTC.
5 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A tree was blown down along Riverton Rose Trail Road.
A tree was blown down along Plantview Drive in Barton.
A tree was blown down in Sheffeild.
Nickel sized hail fell approximately 3 miles east of Crane Hill.
Nickel size hail was reported in Arab.
A tree was blown down by thunderstorm winds at the intersection of 4th Street NE and 7th Avenue NE. The tree landed on a car which was luckily unoccupied.
Trees were blown down on Highway 69 E at a Texaco station.
An EF-0 tornado with a 1.9 mile path length and maximum path width of 200 yards touched down just west of Martling Roadin the Martin/Asbury community. The tornado tracked east across Martling Road, Bell Orr Drive, and Claude Hill Road before weakening and lifting near Asbury Church Road. Along the track, several trees were uprooted and a few were snapped. Most of a metal roof was peeled from a a well constructed barn. A few houses near Claude Hill Road sustained minor roof damage.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alabama in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Alabama, 2009Warnings in Alabama, April 2009
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: 160375, 160380, 160389, 160373, 160398, 167010, 167013, 164180.