An area of low pressure pushed northeast from the Gulf of Mexico the morning of the 18th and produced 1 to 2 inches of rainfall, mainly east of interstate 65. This fell on already saturated soil conditions which produced isolated stream and creek flooding |in the Horton community in Marshall county and on Ford's Chapel road in Madison county.
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.
An area of low pressure pushed northeast from the Gulf of Mexico the morning of the 18th and produced 1 to 2 inches of rainfall, mainly east of interstate 65. This fell on already saturated soil conditions which produced isolated stream and creek flooding |in the Horton community in Marshall county and on Ford's Chapel road in Madison 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 Dec 18, 5:08 AM CST, 4 hours 11 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 508 AM CST FRI DEC 18 2009 .UPDATE...FOR 12Z TAFS. && .AVIATION... RAIN SHIELD WILL SHIFT NEWD THIS MORNING COVERING MOST OF NRN AL INCLUDING KHSV AND KMSL. PREDOMINANT WX WILL BE -RA AT KMSL WITH MVFR RESTRICTIONS FOR CIGS AND VSBYS THIS MORNING...IMPROVING TO VFR AFT 18Z. AT KHSV...MVFR WILL PREVAIL THRU 21Z WITH RA TO OCNL +RA AT TIMES. VFR CIGS AND SPOTTY SHRA ARE XPCTD TNGT AS COLDER AIR FILTERS INTO THE REGION. && .DISCUSSION.../ISSUED AT 306 AM CST FRI DEC 18 2009/... SYNOPSIS...A SHORTWAVE TROUGH IS CURRENTLY PUSHING A PREVIOUSLY CUTOFF LOW NORTHEAST OVER THE NORTHERN GULF OF MEXICO RESULTING IN RAIN SHOWERS SPREADING NORTHWARD OVER THE TN VALLEY. ELSEWHERE...A REX BLOCKING PATTERN HAS DEVELOPED OFF THE EAST COAST OF QUEBEC JUST SOUTH OF GREENLAND. MEANWHILE...A HIGHLY AMPLIFIED RIDGE OFF THE WEST COAST OF BRITISH COLUMBIA IS MOVING ONSHORE WITH A TROUGH JUST TO ITS SOUTHWEST. ONE THING OF NOTE IS THAT THE WRF-NSSL IS SHOWING THE RAIN BANDS QUITE WELL THIS MORNING. SHORT TERM (TODAY THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT)...THE MAIN CHALLENGE INVOLVES THE TRACK OF THE SFC LOW MOVING ALONG THE NORTHERN GULF COAST. IT IS CURRENTLY SPREADING RAIN OVER MUCH OF AL/GA/MS. IN FACT...IT LOOKS AS IF SOME SPOTS (ESPECIALLY OVER NE AL) MAY RECEIVE BETWEEN 1-1.5 INCH OF RAINFALL TODAY WHILE AREAS FURTHER NW WILL RECEIVE BETWEEN 0.25-0.75 INCH OF RAINFALL. HOWEVER...AS THE SFC LOW CONTINUES MOVING NORTHEAST...A COLD NW FETCH WILL DEVELOP...RESULTING IN NEAR FREEZING TEMPS OVER THE ELEVATED PORTIONS OF NE AL AND SOUTHERN MIDDLE TN BEGINNING TONIGHT. FORECAST BUFR SOUNDINGS ARE RATHER DRY ABOVE APPROX -8C. THUS NOT EXPECTING MUCH IN THE WAY OF DENDRITIC GROWTH. AT THIS POINT...HAVE INCLUDED A RAIN/SNOW MIX OVER THESE PARTICULAR ELEVATED PORTIONS OF THE CWA TONIGHT INTO SATURDAY. THERE IS SOME POSSIBILITY FOR FREEZING DRIZZLE IF THE TEMP DROPS SLIGHTLY BELOW FREEZING. ONE OF THE LIMITING FACTORS IS THE GROUND TEMP FOR ROADS...BUT BRIDGES COULD BE MORE OF A PROBLEM ESPECIALLY AT HIGHER ELEVATIONS IF THIS HAPPENS. AS THE SFC LOW PUSHES FURTHER NORTHEAST...PRECIP SHOULD GENERALLY DECREASE WITH SOME FLURRIES STILL POSSIBLE OVER NE AL SATURDAY NIGHT. DAYTIME HIGHS ON SATURDAY WILL LIKELY REMAIN STEADY IN THE LOW TO MID 40S WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS. ON SUNDAY...CLOUD COVER WILL SLOWLY RECEDE BY SUNDAY AFTERNOON...KEEPING TEMPS ANCHORED IN THE 40S ONCE AGAIN. NIGHTTIME LOWS SHOULD THEN FALL INTO THE MID TO UPPER 20S SUNDAY NIGHT. LONG TERM (MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY)...DAYTIME HIGHS WILL RISE SOMEWHAT HIGHER INTO THE MID TO UPPER 40S WITH CLOUDS CLEARING. A RIDGE DEVELOPS OVER MUCH OF THE CENTRAL PORTIONS OF THE US. THIS RIDGE WILL QUICKLY TRANSLATE EASTWARD AS A PACIFIC NORTHWEST TROUGH DIVES SE/E. AS THIS TROUGH AND ENSUING SFC CYCLOGENESIS DEVELOPS OVER SE TX...A SOUTHERLY FETCH WILL ALLOW SOME WARMING TO OCCUR ON TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. BY WEDNESDAY...SHOWERS SHOULD BEGIN TO OVERSPREAD THE REGION FROM SW TO NE. THE DYNAMICS WITH THIS SYSTEM AND THE STRONG SFC LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM MAY RESULT IN BREEZY TO WINDY CONDITIONS WEDNESDAY NIGHT. HAVE KEPT LIKELY POPS GIVEN THE CONSISTENTLY HIGH GUIDANCE VALUES. ALSO OF NOTE...HAVE RETAINED THE CHC OF SN/RA FOR THURSDAY MORNING AS SOME WRAPAROUND MOISTURE MAY RESULT IN A MIX OF PRECIP. THERE IS NOT AS MUCH CONFIDENCE WITH THE WRAPAROUND FROZEN PRECIP GIVEN THE PROBABLE CHANGE IN THE TRACK OF THE SFC LOW WITH SUCCESSIVE MODEL RUNS AND COMPLEX SYNOPTIC SCENARIO IN GENERAL. && .HUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AL...NONE. TN...NONE. && AVIATION...KULA DISCUSSION...SL.77
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 442 AM CST FRI DEC 18 2009 ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-181900- LAUDERDALE-COLBERT-FRANKLIN AL-LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-MADISON-MORGAN- MARSHALL-JACKSON-DEKALB-CULLMAN-MOORE-LINCOLN-FRANKLIN TN- 442 AM CST FRI DEC 18 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... MODERATE TO HEAVY RAINFALL IS EXPECTED TODAY AS A STORM IN THE NORTHERN GULF OF MEXICO LIFTS NORTHEAST ACROSS THE SOUTHEASTERN STATES. RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 1 TO 2 INCHES ARE LIKELY FOR AREAS SOUTHEAST OF A WINCHESTER TO HUNTSVILLE TO MOULTON LINE. A FEW HIGHER AMOUNTS NEAR 3 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE IN PORTIONS OF CULLMAN...MARSHALL AND DEKALB COUNTIES WHICH COULD LEAD TO PONDING OF WATER OR STREET FLOODING. THIS RAINFALL COULD LEAD TO MODERATE RISES ON SMALLER STREAMS AND CREEKS BY TONIGHT OR EARLY SUNDAY. AS THE STORM PULLS AWAY ALONG THE EAST COAST TONIGHT...COLDER AIR WILL FILTER INTO THE REGION. SOME LIGHT SNOW OR FLURRIES MAY MIX IN WITH ANY REMAINING SHOWERS LATE TONIGHT IN NORTHEAST ALABAMA...PARTICULARLY ATOP THE CUMBERLAND PLATEAU. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY... LIGHT RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS ARE EXPECTED TO REDEVELOP FROM MIDDLE TENNESSEE INTO NORTHERN ALABAMA ON SATURDAY AS A SECONDARY LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM DROPS SOUTHEAST INTO THE REGION. THE BEST CHANCE OF SNOWFALL WILL OCCUR EAST OF INTERSTATE 65 IN THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF THE CUMBERLAND PLATEAU. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. AK
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
One foot of flowing water was reported over Ford's Chapel road.
Carnes road near Horton was barricaded due to high water.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alabama in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in Alabama, December 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: 201687, 201699.