Heavy rainfall caused flash flooding in portions of northwestern Alabama. The flooding was reported in and around the Moulton community.
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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.
Heavy rainfall caused flash flooding in portions of northwestern Alabama. The flooding was reported in and around the Moulton community.
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 Sep 23, 9:17 AM CST, 53 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 1017 AM CDT WED SEP 23 2009 .UPDATE...FOR RAINFALL AND TEMPERATURE TRENDS. && .DISCUSSION...THE CONSTANT STREAM OF SHORTWAVES CONTINUE TO DRIVE NE IN THE SW FETCH PRESENT ACROSS MUCH OF THE SOUTHEAST. THESE CONDITIONS REMAIN BECAUSE OF THE CUTOFF LOW CENTERED OVER KS. THE SMALL WAVES ARE ACTUALLY IMPACTING NW AL MORE THAN ANY OTHER LOCATION IN THE CWA. RAISED POPS OVER NW AL TO ACCOUNT FOR THIS TREND IN THE PRECIPITATION. FORECAST MODELS ARE INDICATING THAT THE MAJORITY OF THE PERIODIC PRECIP WILL REMAIN OVER THAT AREA FOR THE REST OF THE DAY. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS MAY ALSO BE POSSIBLE AREAWIDE ESPECIALLY OVER AREAS THAT RECEIVE GREATER DAYTIME HEATING. INCREASED QPF SOMEWHAT TO ACCOUNT FOR THE HEAVY RAINFALL WITH THESE SHOWERS. OTHERWISE...CLOUD COVER APPEARS TO BE MORE TRANSPARENT AND BROKEN OVER NE AL AND HAVE INCREASED DAYTIME HIGHS SLIGHTLY TO ACCOUNT FOR MORE DAYTIME HEATING. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 250 AM CDT WED SEP 23 2009/ CHALLENGING FORECAST YET AGAIN THIS MORNING AS MORE RAINFALL IMPACTS THE TN VALLEY. LINE OF TSTMS HAS BEEN GRADUALLY MAKING ITS WAY EWD ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA OVER THE PAST FEW HRS AIDED BY AN EMBEDDED DISTURBANCE ALOFT MOVING TOWARD THE NE. LINEAR NATURE OF THESE STORMS HAS RESULTED IN MORE HEAVY RAINFALL WITH A FEW AREAS ACROSS NW AL RECEIVING SOME LOCALIZED FLASH FLOODING. THERE IS SOME DRYING THOUGH BEHIND THIS LINE WITH THE PRIMARY CONVERGENT AXIS DISPLACED TO THE W ACROSS THE LOWER MS VALLEY. BASICALLY FEEL ANY ADDITIONAL RAINFALL LATER TODAY WILL BE DRIVEN BY MORE IMPULSES ALOFT TRAVERSING TOWARD THE NE ALTHOUGH THE BETTER RAIN CHANCES WOULD STILL REMAIN ACROSS THE WRN ZONES IN SOMEWHAT CLOSER PROXIMITY TO THE CONVERGENT BOUNDARY. PAST TODAY...ANY CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT WILL AGAIN BE PRIMARILY DEPENDENT ON PASSING DISTURBANCES ALOFT WITH THE AREA REMAINING PREDOM UNDER A SWLY FLOW REGIME. WEAK RIDGING ALOFT THOUGH OVER THE ERN GULF COAST REGION MAY HELP TO MITIGATE/DISPLACE SOME OF THESE IMPULSES MORE TO THE W SUGGESTING RAINFALL COVERAGE MAY BE MORE SCT IN NATURE DURING THE DAYTIME AND THEN DIMINISHING TO ISOLATED BY THE EVENING HRS. OVERALL TEMPS FOR THE REMAINING WORK WEEK STILL LOOK TO RUN CLOSE TO 10 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL AS AN UNSEASONABLY WARM AIRMASS REMAINS FAIRLY STAGNANT ACROSS THE REGION. WX CONDITIONS ACROSS THE TN VALLEY MAY FINALLY BEGIN TO CHANGE AS THE WEEKEND PERIOD APPROACHES. THE FIRST OF TWO COLD FRONTS LOOK TO MOVE THROUGH THE AREA STARTING SAT AS CAA OUT OF THE NRN PLAINS BEGINS TO DIVE TOWARD THE SE. WITH AN UPPER TROUGH PATTERN OUT OF THE WRN STATES LIFTING TOWARD THE NE ACROSS THE OH VALLEY AND GREAT LAKES REGION...THERE LOOKS TO BE ENOUGH MOMENTUM WITH THE COOLER AIR APPROACHING THE SE REGION TO MOVE THE CONVERGENT ZONE/COLD FRONT OVER THE LOWER MS VALLEY THROUGH THE AREA SAT. SHOWERS/TSTMS ARE XPCTED TO DEVELOP ALONG AND AHEAD OF THE APPROACHING BOUNDARY FRI NT/SAT. SOME OF THE STORMS COULD BE QUITE STRONG ON SAT GIVEN THE STRENGTH OF THE LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE ALTHOUGH UPPER DYNAMICS ARE FAIRLY MARGINAL. CAA THEN GETS A BETTER SURGE STARTING SUN AS A STRONG RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE BEGINS TO BUILD SEWD ACROSS THE PLAINS STATES WITH RAINFALL FINALLY COMING TO AN END ACROSS THE TN VALLEY. THIS SURGE OF POLAR AIR SHOULD THEN DRIVE A SECOND COLD FRONT THROUGH THE AREA ON MON WITH HIGH PRESSURE IN TOW. WITH THE HIGH SETTLING INTO THE SE REGION BY TUE...TRANQUIL FALL LIKE CONDITIONS LOOK TO FINALLY MAKE THEIR WAY INTO THE TN VALLEY AREA WITH OVERALL TEMPS AT SEASONAL TRENDS. && .AVIATION.../FROM 12Z ISSUANCE/ NO CHANGES. SCATTERED -SHRA CONTINUES TO MOVE ACROSS KMSL THIS MORNING AND WILL CONTINUE TO REDUCE VISIBILITIES AND CEILINGS OFF AND ON THROUGH AT LEAST 15Z. OTHERWISE...WENT WITH A SOMEWHAT OPTIMISTIC VFR FORECAST THIS AFTERNOON AS TIMING OF -SHRA/-TSRA REMAINS QUITE DIFFICULT SO UPDATES WILL BE PROBABLE. AFTER 00Z...MVFR TO POSSIBLY IFR CONDITIONS MAY OCCUR ESPECIALLY AT KMSL BUT NOT CONFIDENT ENOUGH TO INCLUDE IFR CONDITIONS IN TAF AT THIS POINT ESPECIALLY SINCE TIMING OF CONVECTION HAS BEEN QUITE DIFFICULT. && .HUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AL...NONE. TN...NONE. && PREV DISCUSSION...09 AVIATION...KNS/33 UPDATE...SL.77
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 311 AM CDT WED SEP 23 2009 ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-241100- LAUDERDALE-COLBERT-FRANKLIN AL-LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-MADISON-MORGAN- MARSHALL-JACKSON-DEKALB-CULLMAN-MOORE-LINCOLN-FRANKLIN TN- 311 AM CDT WED SEP 23 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CAN BE EXPECTED ACROSS THE AREA TODAY. SOME OF THE STRONGER THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL...FREQUENT LIGHTNING...AND GUSTY WINDS. AREAS WEST OF INTERSTATE 65 WILL HAVE A HEIGHTENED THREAT FOR LOCALIZED FLASH FLOODING DUE TO AN ALREADY SATURATED GROUND. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY... ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAINFALL AND LOCALIZED FLASH FLOODING ARE POSSIBLE THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY AS SEVERAL DISTURBANCES MOVE THROUGH THE AREA. A FEW STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WITH GUSTY WINDS AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE. A COLD FRONT IS FORECAST TO MOVE THROUGH THE AREA DURING THE LATTER PART OF THE WEEKEND...WHICH SHOULD FINALLY PUT AN END TO THE RAINY CONDITIONS. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGERS ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO PROVIDE REPORTS OF FLASH FLOODING OR CLOSED ROADS TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. KNS
The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 115 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 16:10 UTC.
2 flash flood, 1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
County road 180 was closed 2 miles northeast of Wren.
Heavy rainfall closed some roads southeast of Hatton. Roads closed included: CR 161 and CR 150.
Runoff from rainfall from the night of the 22nd through the morning of the 23rd, caused Big Creek northwest of Athens to rise over its banks and flood Bill Black Road. During peak flooding, up to two feet of water was flowing over this low water crossing.
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, September 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: 197343, 197344, 197347.