A small but intense complex of thunderstorms tracked east-southeast into northern Alabama during the late morning and early afternoon of the 10th. Frequent lightning occurred with the strongest storms, sparking a house fire, a telephone pole fire, and knocking a power pole down.
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.
A small but intense complex of thunderstorms tracked east-southeast into northern Alabama during the late morning and early afternoon of the 10th. Frequent lightning occurred with the strongest storms, sparking a house fire, a telephone pole fire, and knocking a power pole down. A bow echo developed with the cluster of storms as it entered Limestone and Madison Counties, producing winds of 50 to 60 mph which caused isolated damage in northern 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 Jun 10, 10:00 AM CST, 37 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 1100 AM CDT WED JUN 10 2009 .UPDATE... TWEAKS TO HIGH TEMPS...POPS OVER THE REGION. && .DISCUSSION... AS OF THIS WRITING...A COMPLEX OF SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS WAS JUST BEGINNING TO AFFECT FAR NW ALABAMA. THIS ACTIVITY...MENTIONED IN RECENTLY ISSUED MCD 1020 COULD RESULT IN A WATCH BEING ISSUED IF THE STORMS BECOME STRONGER/MORE NUMEROUS. OTHERWISE A WARM AND UNSTABLE ATMOSPHERE WAS NOTED ACROSS THE GREATER HUN OUTLOOK AREA. 10 AM TEMPS HAVE RISEN INTO THE LOWER AND MID 80S MOST LOCATIONS. GIVEN THE CLOUDS MOVING IN FROM THE WEST... HAVE TRIMMED HIGH TEMPS SLIGHTLY ACROSS OUR NORTHERN AREAS FOR THIS AFTERNOON. SIMILARLY...HAVE INCREASED RAIN CHANCES FOR OUR NORTHERN AREAS A BIT TOO. OTHER FORECAST PARAMETERS FROM THE NIGHT SHIFT LOOK GOOD FOR NOW. THANKS NWS JACKSON FOR THEIR EARLIER BACKUP DUTIES THIS MORNING. THE WEDNESDAY NOAA ALL HAZARDOUS WEATHER RADIO TEST HAS BEEN POSTPONED DUE TO APPROACHING STORMS. && .AVIATION... /PREVIOUS ISSUANCE...NO CHANGES WERE MADE/ VFR CONDS GENERALLY EXPECTED THROUGH THE TAF PERIOD WITH A CANOPY OF HIGH CLOUDS. COULD BE A VCSH RIGHT AT THE START OF THE TAF PERIOD AT HSV. OTHERWISE...ACTIVITY SHOULD HOLD OFF UNTIL AROUND NOON. LOW CONFIDENCE IN ANY SHRA/TSRA AFFECTING TERMINALS SO WILL INCLUDE ONLY VCTS AND CB MENTIONS. DO THINK THERE IS ENOUGH OF A PROB OF TSRA AT MSL THIS AFTERNOON TO INTRODUCE A BRIEF TEMPO MVFR VISBY. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 625 AM CDT WED JUN 10 2009/ A PERSISTENT WX PATTERN IS IN PLAY FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS AS AN UPPER RIDGE REMAINS LOCKED IN POSITION ALONG THE MEXICAN GULF COAST. THIS WILL KEEP SEVERAL SHORTWAVES...ALMOST TOO MANY TO COUNT...FLOWING OVER THE RIDGE AND THRU THE OH/TN VALLEYS. THIS CREATES THE DILEMMA OF DETERMINING WHICH WAVES ARE LEGIT...LET ALONE THE TIMING PROBLEMS. A MORE SYNOPTIC-SIZED UPPER TROF WAS TRACKING INTO THE DESERT SW...AND WILL BE THE BEST DEFINED TRIGGER FOR CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY ACROSS THE TN VALLEY THU INTO FRI. IN THE SHORT TERM...ONE CLUSTER OF CONVECTION CONTINUES TO TRACK E INTO NRN MIDDLE TN...WITH RECENT CELLS CROPPING UP IN SRN TN INTO NWRN AL. THESE ARE TIED TO ELEVATED THETA-E ADVECTION...AND N OF THE CAP NOTED ON THE 00Z BMX SOUNDING. THE OHX SOUNDING HAD NO CAP. WE ARE ALSO TRACKING A LARGE MCS/BOW ECHO SYSTEM NOW DROPPING SEWD INTO NRN AR. THIS IS A WAVE THAT THE 00Z 12KM NAM / 4KM WRF HAVE A GRASP ON...AND COULD ARRIVE HERE AS EARLY AS MID MORNING. SPC JUST PUT OUT AN MCD FOR A NEW SVR WATCH TO OUR NW FOR THIS ACTIVITY. AN 8H THETA-E RIDGE AND AMPLE ELEVATED INSTABILITY IS IN ITS PATH ACROSS MUCH OF THE WRN TN AND LWR MS VALLEYS. SFC DEW POINTS IN LOWER 70S ARE NOW DRAPED SE OF THE SYSTEM INTO WRN AL. THE MEMPHIS VWP INDICATES A VEERING PROFILE WITH A 20-25KT LLJ...SO I DO NOT SEE THIS SYSTEM FALLING APART. WILL RAISE POPS A BIT TODAY INTO THE CHC RANGE...ESPECIALLY FOR OUR NRN COUNTIES. FOR TONIGHT AND THURSDAY...WILL ALSO RAISE POPS A BIT GIVEN A STRONGER LLJ THAT WILL INSTIGATE ONE OR MORE ADDITIONAL MCS(S) ACROSS THE OZARKS/SRN PLAINS. THESE LOOK TO HAVE A BETTER CHC OF TRACKING INTO OUR FORECAST AREA...ESPECIALLY OUR NRN AREAS FROM LATE TONIGHT INTO THU. THE SPC DAY 2 OUTLOOK IS IN LINE WITH THIS THINKING AS WELL. THE STRONGER SHORTWAVE NOW IN THE DESERT SW SHOOTS EWD QUICKLY INTO THE REGION BRINGING MORE MODERATE DEEP LAYER SHEAR/40KT 5H FLOW. GIVEN AN AIRMASS WITH DEW POINTS NEAR 70F...SBCAPE VALUES COULD CLIMB INTO THE 3K J/KG RANGE. AND...PWS WILL ALSO CLIMB ABOVE 1.5 INCHES...SO LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL IS XPCTD...ESPCLY THU NIGHT INTO FRI AS THE SFC BOUNDARY ALIGNS ITSELF W-E...MORE PARALLEL TO THE MCS(S) TRACKING EWD ALONG IT. THE OUTER PERIODS WERE LEFT ABOUT AS IS GIVEN THE PERSISTENT WX PATTERN. THE RIDGE DOES LOOK TO BUILD QUITE STRONGLY NEXT WEEK...SETTING US UP FOR A HOT AND HUMID PD NEXT WEEK. && .HUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AL...NONE. TN...NONE. && UPDATE...BOYD AVIATION...JE/23 PREV DISCUSSION...KULA
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 1029 AM CDT WED JUN 10 2009 ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-102315- LAUDERDALE-COLBERT-FRANKLIN AL-LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-MADISON-MORGAN- MARSHALL-JACKSON-DEKALB-CULLMAN-MOORE-LINCOLN-FRANKLIN TN- 1029 AM CDT WED JUN 10 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... A COMPLEX OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE INTO THE AREA TODAY...WITH ISOLATED STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAPABLE OF LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS UP TO 60 MPH. ALTHOUGH THE MAIN THREATS WILL BE LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS...A TORNADO OR TWO CANNOT BE RULED OUT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY... THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. AN APPROACHING COLD FRONT WILL FURTHER INCREASE THUNDERSTORM CHANCES ON THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. SOME STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ON THURSDAY...AND MORE LIKELY ON FRIDAY...AS THE COLD FRONT SLOWLY MOVES THROUGH THE AREA. LARGE HAIL AND GUSTY TO DAMAGING WINDS WILL BE POSSIBLE IN THE STRONGEST STORMS...ALONG WITH DANGEROUS LIGHTNING. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL IS ALSO POSSIBLE ON THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY. THE FRONT MAY STALL OR REGENERATE ACROSS THE AREA OVER THE WEEKEND...KEEPING THUNDERSTORM CHANCES IN THE FORECAST THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK...IN A SUMMERLIKE PATTERN. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL MAY BE REQUESTED TODAY. 22/KDW
The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 117 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 16:37 UTC.
5 thunderstorm wind, 3 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning sparked a fire at a residence north of Florence. Location and time estimated.
Lightning knocked a power pole down.
Lightning sparked a fire on a telephone pole along County Road 91 near the Tennessee River. The fire blew out the transmitter.
Thunderstorm winds knocked a tree down onto State Line Road.
Thunderstorm winds knocked trees and large branches down along Butter and Egg Road, Charity Lane, Scoot. Trampolines were also blown across lawns.
Thunderstorm winds knocked down trees and power lines in north Huntsville on Cedar Hill Road and at the intersection of Harris Road and Force Drive.
Thunderstorm winds knocked a tree onto a road in New Market. Time estimated.
Thunderstorm winds knocked a large tree onto the roof of a home. Time estimated.
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, June 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: 163977, 163978, 163979, 163980, 163982, 163981, 163999, 164000.