Strong to severe thunderstorms trained along a pre-existing boundary produced by a decayed MCS stretching across eastern Lauderdale and western Limestone counties during the early morning hours. Damaging winds knocked down a few trees northwest and southeast of Athens.
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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.
Strong to severe thunderstorms trained along a pre-existing boundary produced by a decayed MCS stretching across eastern Lauderdale and western Limestone counties during the early morning hours. Damaging winds knocked down a few trees northwest and southeast of Athens. These training storms produced between 3 and 5 inches of rainfall over eastern portions of Lauderdale county. Flash flooding occurred as a result, closing several county roads, mainly in the Lexington, Anderson, and Rogersville communities.
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 5, 12:19 AM CST, 2 hours 6 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 119 AM CDT SUN JUL 5 2009 .DISCUSSION...EARLY MORNING SFC ANALYSIS SHOWS AN ELONGATED AREA OF LOW PRESSURE ACROSS THE MID MS RIVER VALLEY WITH A WARM FRONT ARCING ROUGHLY FROM EVV-SDF-TYS. A PREFRONTAL TROUGH WAS NOTED IN THE PRESSURE FIELD (AND AS A WINDSHIFT AXIS) FROM CENTRAL ARKANSAS TO NEAR THE DALLAS METROPLEX. HOWEVER...THE REAL COOL FRONT STIL LAGGED BACK WELL TO WEST FROM SRN MISSOURI INTO CENTRAL OK. REGIONAL RADARS SHOW SEVERAL CLUSTERS OF CONVECTION LINED UP ALONG THE I-40 CORRIDOR FROM TENNESSEE WESTWARD INTO ARKANSAS AND OKLAHOMA. ACTIVITY WILL BEGIN TO SPREAD EAST AND SOUTH OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL HOURS AS THE SFC LOW LIFTS NORTHEAST AND THE PREFRONTAL TROUGH APPROACHES THE REGION. LAPS AND SPC MESOANALYSIS SHOWS THE BEST SFC BASED INSTABILITY IS CONFINED TO THE WEST OF THE TN VLY THIS MORNING...BUT THERE IS CERTAINLY ENOUGH ELEVATED INSTABILITY AND FORCING TO SUSTAIN ONGOING CONVECTION. IN ADDITION...A NARROW WEDGE OF 0-1KM HELICITY AOA 250 M2/S2 ALONG WITH BULK SHEAR VALUES OF 40 KTS COULD SUPPORT ROTATING ORGANIZED STRONG/SEVERE STORMS /EVEN ISOLATED TORNADOES/. NAM/GFS BOTH CONTINUE TO INDICATE STRONG MOISTURE TRANSPORT AND UVM THROUGH THE MORNING HOURS TODAY. IN FACT...THE MODELS HAVE SLOWED DOWN THE PROGRESSION OF THE SFC FRONT SUBSTANTIALLY AND KEEPS THE REGION IN A FAIRLY MOIST AIRMASS THROUGH THE NEXT 24-30 HOURS. PWATS ARE PROGGED TO REMAIN ABOVE 2 THROUGH EARLY MONDAY AND ABOVE 1.75 THROUGH 00Z TUESDAY. GIVEN THE SLOWER MOVEMENT OF THE FRONT...POPS FOR BOTH TONIGHT AND MONDAY WILL BE SHIFTED UPWARDS. THIS IS IN LINE WITH THE MOST RECENT SREF GUIDANCE AS WELL. SFC HIGH WILL FINALLY BEGIN TO BUILD INTO THE REGION MONDAY NIGHT BRINGING ANOTHER PERIOD OF DRY WX TO THE REGION. THE GFS/ECMWF ARE STILL INDICATING THE L/W RIDGE AXIS WILL REMAIN POSITIONED ACROSS THE SWRN US WITH SOME INDICATIONS OF A WEAK SHEAR AXIS/SHORTWAVE TROUGH TAKING SHAPE ACROSS THE CENTRAL GULF COAST BY LATER IN THE WEEK. FOR NOW...THE MODELS FOCUS THE PRECIP WITH THIS FEATURE TO OUR SOUTH AND WILL KEEP THE FCST FOR THE LATTER HALF OF THE WORK WEEK DRY. A FRONT DOES APPROACH THE REGION BY NEXT WEEKEND WARRANTING LOW CHC/SLGT CHC POPS. && .AVIATION...-SHRA FROM UPPER WAVE STILL PUSHING ACROSS THE TN/AL BORDER AND TAF SITES. MORE SHRA/TSRA ARE EXPECTED OVERNIGHT AS A LINE OF CONVECTION OVER MIDDLE TN MOVES SEWRD. STRONGER TSRA COULD BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING STRONG WIND GUSTS OVER 40KTS...AND BRIEF LIFR OR VLIFR CONDITIONS. DUE TO THE RAPID EVOLUTION OF CONVECTION...WILL HAVE TO AMEND TAFS AS NECESSARY. BEST TIMING WITH CONVECTION PLACES IT AT KHSV/KMSL TERMINALS ARND 10Z. OTHERWISE...AS A CDFNT APPROACHES THE CWA ON SUNDAY MORE SHRA/TSRA DEVELOPMENT WILL BE POSSIBLE ON SUNDAY MRNG/AFTN. MVFR CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED SUNDAY AFTN/EVENING DUE TO THUNDERSTORMS...BUT ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED TO TAPER OFF LATER IN THE EVENING. && .MESOSCALE DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 1257 AM CDT SUN JUL 5 2009/ CONVECTION DEVELOPING RAPIDLY UPSTREAM IN MIDDLE TN...AS SHORT WAVE TRAVERSES THE AREA OVER AN 850-700MB 30-40KT JET AND ASSOCIATED MOISTURE ADVECTION. THE RESULTING INSTABILITY/SHEAR MAY BE PRODUCING SEVERE WEATHER IN TN ATTM...WITH DAMAGING WINDS AS THE PRIMARY THREAT. SPC ANALYSES ALSO SHOW A FAIRLY SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF 0-1KM HELICITY ARND 300 M2/S2 MAINLY IN SRN TN AND SPREADING INTO NWRN AL. THUS...A TORNADIC POTENTIAL DOES EXIST AS THE CONVECTION MOVES INTO OUR AREA...DRIVEN SWRD BY COLD POOL INTERACTIONS WITH THE SYNOPTIC S-SWRLY FLOW. STILL THINK THAT LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WITH TRAINING CELLS AND DAMAGING WIND GUSTS WILL BE THE PRIMARY THREATS. BUT...WILL HAVE TO WATCH OUT FOR BOWING SEGMENTS ALONG THE LINE AND CELL MERGERS WITH DISCRETE CELLS AHEAD OF THE LINE FOR ANY POSSIBLE BRIEF SPINUPS. && .HUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AL...NONE. TN...NONE. && AVIATION...03 DISCUSSION...15
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 320 AM CDT SUN JUL 5 2009 ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-051830- LAUDERDALE-COLBERT-FRANKLIN AL-LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-MADISON-MORGAN- MARSHALL-JACKSON-DEKALB-CULLMAN-MOORE-LINCOLN-FRANKLIN TN- 320 AM CDT SUN JUL 5 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE SOUTHWARD ACROSS THE AREA THIS MORNING. THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL AFFECT AREAS GENERALLY NORTH OF THE TENNESSEE RIVER THROUGH SUNRISE...AND AREAS SOUTH OF THE TENNESSEE RIVER THROUGH ABOUT 8 AM. THE PRIMARY THREATS WILL BE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL AND ISOLATED INSTANCES OF FLASH FLOODING...PARTICULARLY IN FAR NORTHERN ALABAMA AND SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE. IN ADDITION...ISOLATED DAMAGING WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH OR TORNADOES MAY BE POSSIBLE AS THIS LINE OF SLOW MOVING STORMS PUSHES ACROSS THE AREA. REDEVELOPMENT OF THUNDERSTORMS IS LIKELY DURING THE DAY AS SURFACE HEATING INTERACTS WITH A COOL FRONT APPROACHING THE REGION SLOWLY FROM THE NORTHWEST. SOME OF THE STORMS COULD BE STRONG TO POSSIBLY SEVERE...ESPECIALLY DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING...WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR DAMAGING WIND GUSTS. IN ADDITION...THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY... THE FRONT WILL SLOWLY PUSH SOUTH ACROSS THE AREA AND INTO CENTRAL ALABAMA ON MONDAY. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ON MONDAY...WITH THE BEST CHANCE ALONG AND SOUTH OF THE TENNESSEE RIVER. A DRYING TREND IS EXPECTED BY MONDAY EVENING. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL IS POSSIBLE TODAY. KDW/CBD
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 249 AM CDT SUN JUL 5 2009 TNZ096-050815- LINCOLN- 249 AM CDT SUN JUL 5 2009 ...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ALERT FOR LINCOLN COUNTY UNTIL 315 AM CDT... AT 246 AM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM IN WESTERN LINCOLN COUNTY...FROM MCBURG THROUGH DELLROSE...OR 12 MILES WEST OF FAYETTEVILLE...MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH. WINDS UP TO 40 MPH...FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING...AND HEAVY DOWNPOURS ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM. * LOCATIONS IN OR NEAR THE PATH INCLUDE... COLDWATER. MCBURG...DELLROSE. HARMS...HOWELL. CARMARGO...BELLEVILLE. FAYETTEVILLE...SKINEM. MOLINO...KELSO. REMEMBER...IF YOU CAN HEAR THUNDER...YOU ARE CLOSE ENOUGH TO THE STORM TO BE STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. SEEK SAFE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...COMMERCIAL RADIO...OR YOUR LOCAL TELEVISION STATIONS FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS CONCERNING THIS WEATHER SITUATION. KDW
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 304 AM CDT SUN JUL 5 2009 ALZ001-005-050830- LAUDERDALE-LIMESTONE- 304 AM CDT SUN JUL 5 2009 ...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ALERT FOR LAUDERDALE AND LIMESTONE COUNTIES UNTIL 330 AM CDT... AT 303 AM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM NEAR LEXINGTON...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH. WINDS UP TO 40 MPH...FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING...AND HEAVY DOWNPOURS ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM. * LOCATIONS IN OR NEAR THE PATH INCLUDE... WHITEHEAD. ANDERSON. GOOD SPRINGS...MT ROZELL. THE GUSTY WINDS WILL BE CAPABLE OF KNOCKING DOWN SMALL TREES...TREE LIMBS...AND POWERLINES. SEEK SAFE SHELTER UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...COMMERCIAL RADIO...OR YOUR LOCAL TELEVISION STATIONS FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS CONCERNING THIS WEATHER SITUATION. KDW
The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 94 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 08:27 UTC.
4 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood, 1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
A tree was blown down on the 1900 block of Woodmead Street SW.
A tree was blown down on Highway 99 near the Elk River.
A tree was blown down on Sandllin Road in the Elkmont area.
A tree was blown down on Highway 72 and East Limestone Road.
Between 3 and 5 inches of rainfall from training strong to severe thunderstorms produced flash flooding which closed several roads in eastern Lauderdale county. Most of the closed roads were in the Lexington, Anderson, and Rogersville areas.
Several county roads remained closed in eastern Lauderdale county, mainly in the Lexington and Anderson communities. Roads remaining closed at 2:26 PM included: CR 52, CR 207, CR 502, CR 50, CR 51, CR 39, CR 96, CR 530, CR 534, CR 56, CR 51, and Highway 64.
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: 177545, 177541, 177542, 177538, 177533, 191372.