An MCV producing strong to severe thunderstorms acclerated from central Missouri southeast into northern Tennessee. A large bow echo along the southern portion of this MCV.
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 MCV producing strong to severe thunderstorms acclerated from central Missouri southeast into northern Tennessee. A large bow echo along the southern portion of this MCV. This bow echo quickly acclerated southeast into northwestern Alabama knocking down numerous trees in Colbert and Lauderdale counties during the evening hours.
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 15, 5:51 PM CST, 1 hour 34 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 651 PM CDT WED JUL 15 2009 .UPDATE...00Z AVIATION. && .AVIATION... TOUGH SHRA/TSRA FORECAST TONIGHT...WITH TWO POTENTIAL PERIODS OF ACTIVITY POSSIBLY AFFECTING HSV AND MSL. WATCHING ONE AREA OF STORMS OVER THE MO BOOTHEEL MOVING SEWD...BUT FEEL THIS WILL STAY MORE TO THE NORTH. HAVE ADDED VCTS AT MSL ONLY IN CASE THIS MOVES INTO NRN AL...BUT NOTHING FOR HSV ATTM. OTHERWISE...USUAL MORNING MVFR FOG IS EXPECTED AT MSL BEFORE DAYBREAK. SECOND CHANCE FOR STORMS WILL OCCUR TMRW...ESPECIALLY IN THE AFTN...AS DISTURBANCES BEGIN TO BREAK DOWN THE RIDGE. TIMING REMAINS SUSPECT...BUT CONSENSUS SEEMS TO BE BUILDING FOR THE AFTN HOURS SO HAVE GONE WITH A PROB30 AT BOTH SITES. && .DISCUSSION...ISSUED 244 PM CDT WED JUL 15 2009... SHORT TERM FORECAST CONCERN IS CONVECTIVE POTENTIAL THROUGH TONIGHT...WITH SUCCESSIVE POSSIBILITIES THURSDAY INTO FRIDAY. EXPLOSIVE SURFACE BASED CONVECTIVE INSTABILITY HAS DEVELOPED ACROSS THE MID SOUTH WHERE TEMPS HAVE WARMED INTO THE L-M90S WITH TROPICAL DEW POINTS IN THE M70S. NOTABLE OBS WERE AT JACKSON AND MEMPHIS TN. RESULTANT SBCAPE VALUES HAVE CLIMBED ABOVE 5000 J/KG IN THIS AREA. VALUES ARE A BIT LOWER IN THE TN VALLEY...WITH 2000-3000 J/KG. THE HIGH CAPE VALUES ARE DRIVEN MORE BY THE HIGH LOW LEVEL MOISTURE DESPITE RATHER MODEST MID LEVEL LAPSE RATES. DEEP LAYER SHEAR WAS MUCH MORE PRONOUNCED ACROSS THE MO/LWR OH VALLEYS...AND CONSIDERABLY LOWER ACROSS THE TN VALLEY WHERE STEERING FLOW REMAINS QUITE WEAK. THUS...CONCERN FOR WIDESPREAD SVR CONVECTION IS LOW. HOWEVER...LOCALLY INTENSE RAINFALL RATES ARE LIKELY WITH ANY ISOLATED EVENING STORMS THAT CROP UP. THE SHORT RANGE MODELS SUGGEST THAT NEWLY DEVELOPED CONVECTION W OF CLARKSVILLE TN SHOULD REMAIN TO OUR N THIS EVENING. THESE CLUSTERS COULD BECOME A PLAYER LATER TONIGHT AS THEY PROPAGATE SWWD...FEEDING OFF THE WESTERLY LLJ AND WEAK THETA ADVECTION FROM THE MID SOUTH REGION. MIN TEMPS WILL BE QUITE SULTRY...WITH SUGGESTED MAV VALUES ACCEPTABLE. THURSDAY LOOKS TO BE AN ACTIVE DAY ACROSS THE REGION. ONGOING CONVECTION WILL BE SAGGING SWD THRU THE TN VALLEY EARLY THU MORNING AS SEVERAL UPPER IMPULSES UPSTREAM ACROSS THE CENTRAL PLAINS TRACK EAST. A STRONGER WAVE NOTED BY THE GFS WILL CROSS THE MS RIVER AROUND 12Z...AND WILL LIKELY BRING ADDED UVM AND A BIT HIGHER DEEP LAYER SHEAR THU AFTN FOR ORGANIZED MCS ACTIVITY. MORNING CONVECTION SHOULD LIMIT CONVECTIVE INSTABILITY SOMEWHAT...SO SEVERE CONVECTION IS QUITE CONDITIONAL. HAVE GONE WITH LIKELY TO CATEGORICAL POPS...AND SIDED WITH THE COOLER RAW NAM FOR MAX TEMPS. THERE MAY BE A BRIEF BREAK IN THE ACTION THU EVENING AS THE FIRST WAVE TRACKS SE...BUT ANOTHER WAVE QUICKLY FOLLOWS BEHIND LATE THU NIGHT. THE SFC BOUNDARY IS EXPECTED TO HANG UP IN THE VICINITY AS WELL...WITH ANOTHER SURGE IN THE LLJ/THETA-E ADVECTION LATE THU NIGHT OR EARLY FRI MORNING. FRI SHOULD BE ANOTHER RATHER WET DAY OVERALL WITH SEVERAL PDS OF SHRA/TSRA PSBL WITH LOCALLY HVY RAINFALL. THE FLASH FLOOD THREAT COULD BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD DEPENDING ON HOW MUCH RAIN FALLS THU/THU NIGHT. HAVE NOT MADE MANY ADJUSTMENTS BEYOND DAY 3. THE MEDIUM RANGE MODELS STILL SUGGEST A PERSISTENT MEAN TROF POSN ACROSS THE SERN U.S. NEXT WEEK. THE AIRMASS UPSTREAM OF THE INITIAL COLD PUSH OF AIR IN THE NRN PLAINS AND SRN CANADA SUPPORT THE FORECAST AIRMASS EXPECTED TO ARRIVE SAT NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY. NEAR RECORD OR RECORD LOW TEMPS IN THE U50S WILL REMAIN FORECAST SUNDAY AND MONDAY MORNINGS. && .HUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AL...NONE. TN...NONE. && AVIATION...BCC DISCUSSION...KULA
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 515 PM CDT WED JUL 15 2009 ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-161000- LAUDERDALE-COLBERT-FRANKLIN AL-LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-MADISON-MORGAN- MARSHALL-JACKSON-DEKALB-CULLMAN-MOORE-LINCOLN-FRANKLIN TN- 515 PM CDT WED JUL 15 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT... SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS MAY MOVE INTO PORTIONS OF THE CENTRAL TENNESSEE VALLEY THIS EVENING AND OVERNIGHT. A FEW THUNDERSTORMS MAY BECOME STRONG TO MARGINALLY SEVERE...CAPABLE OF PRODUCING STRONG WINDS...FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAINFALL. AREAS MOST LIKELY TO SEE RAINFALL AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE IN SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE AND PORTIONS OF NORTHWEST ALABAMA. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY... A CLUSTER OF STORMS WILL MOVE ACROSS THE TENNESSEE VALLEY BEGINNING THURSDAY MORNING AND TAPERING OFF BY THURSDAY EVENING. ANOTHER ROUND OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE ON FRIDAY AS A STRONG COLD FRONT MOVES ACROSS THE AREA. THE COLD FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH THE AREA BY FRIDAY NIGHT. THERE WILL BE THE CHANCE OF STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ON BOTH THURSDAY AND FRIDAY WITH DAMAGING WINDS AND VERY HEAVY RAIN POSSIBLE. COOLER AND LESS HUMID CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED FOR THE WEEKEND. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. BCC
The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 121 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:23 UTC.
32 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A tree was blown down on CR 90.
A tree was blown down on CR 139.
Tree blown down on Shadowbrook Drive.
Trees and power lines were blown down on CR 47.
A tree was blown down over North Wood Avenue.
A tree was blown down onto a house on Hermitage Drive.
Around a 100 foot tree was blown down onto a house on Decatur Avenue landing on the home's utility box. This caused the box to smoke which caused residents to call the power company to turn off the power temporarily to the house until the box was replaced.
A tree was blown down on Brooks Drive.
A tree was blown down onto CR 428.
A tree was blown down on a house located on Lock Six road.
Four or five trees were blown down near intersection of CR 76 and CR 33.
A tree was blown down on Moody Lane.
A power pole was knocked down on Montgomery Avenue.
A tree and power lines were knocked down on Forest Avenue.
A tree was blown down on N Columbia Avenue.
A tree was blown down on E 32nd Street.
A tree was blown down onto a car at Timberline Apartments.
A tree and some power lines were blown down on 10th Avenue.
A tree was blown down on Crestline Avenue.
Trees and power lines were blown down on Frankfort road.
A tree was blown down on Harding Avenue.
A tree was blown down on Ford Avenue.
A tree was blown down on Hughes Street.
Trees and power lines were blown down on Wilson Lake Shores.
A tree was blown down on Shannon Street.
Trees and power lines were blown down on Six Mile Lane.
A tree was blown down on Hatton School Road.
A tree was blown down on River Road.
A tree was blown down on Brick School Road.
A tree was blown down onto a house on Quarry Road.
One tree was blown down near Littleville.
An outflow from a decaying thunderstorm complex downed a tree onto a house on Alpine Street in Huntsville.
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, July 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: 179711, 179715, 179732, 179739, 179762, 179765, 179766, 179746, 179750, 179742, 179753, 179668, 179687, 179701, 179704, 179707, 179678, 179689, 179700, 179674, 179682, 179685, 179696, 179697, 179699, 179681, 179691, 179692, 179694, 179670, 179320, 179324.