A complex of heavy showers and thunderstorms developed around 5 am and tracked slowly northward through northeast Alabama. Thunderstorms and intense rainfall repeatedly regenerated over the same area, especially from Scottsboro northward through the Hytop area.
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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.
A complex of heavy showers and thunderstorms developed around 5 am and tracked slowly northward through northeast Alabama. Thunderstorms and intense rainfall repeatedly regenerated over the same area, especially from Scottsboro northward through the Hytop area. Rainfall fell at a rate of one quarter inch per five minutes, or up to 3 inches per hour. The bulk of the rain fell from 6 am to 9 am, with rainfall totals of 6 to 7 inches reported. Flood water closed numerous roads in Scottsboro. Water as high as 4.5 feet innudated residences and businesses in the area. A few residents were rescued from the water in their homes. Two cars became submerged in flood water at a fast food restaurant on Broad Street where 3 feet was flood water collected.
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 Aug 16, 11:20 PM CST, 40 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 1220 AM CDT TUE AUG 17 2010 .UPDATE... 06Z AVIATION FORECAST. && .AVIATION... ISOLATED SHOWER/THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY SHOULD REMAIN SOUTH OF THE KMSL AND KHSV AIRPORTS THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT. A CLEARING LINE EVIDENT ON SATELLITE SUGGESTS A BETTER CHANCE FOR MVFR FOG/MIST BEFORE DAYBREAK...ESPECIALLY IN THE VICINITY OF THE KMSL TERMINAL. VFR WEATHER SHOULD RETURN ACROSS THE ENTIRE AREA AFTER 14Z TUE. HEATING AND INSTABILITY WILL BRING A CHANCE FOR MORE CONVECTION TUE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. TOO MUCH UNCERTAINLY CONTINUES TO INCLUDE EXACT TIMING FOR SHOWER ACTIVITY. CONVECTION SHOULD AGAIN TAPER OFF AFTER SUNSET TUE EVENING. && .DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 914 PM CDT MON AUG 16 2010/ FINALLY...A COLD FRONT OF SORTS HAS FINALLY MADE IT TO THE TENNESSEE VALLEY. IT EXTENDED FROM SE OF KNOXVILLE/CHATTANOOGA...AND SOUTH OF ALBERTVILLE AND THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE. DESPITE THE FRONT'S POSITION... LOW/MID 70S DEWPOINTS PREVAILED ACROSS THE AREA. FURTHER TO THE NORTH AND NW HOWEVER...MID 60S DEWPOINTS WERE NOTED FROM MEMPHIS TO NASHVILLE. AS IS USUALLY THE CASE DURING THE EVENING...CONVECTION FOR THE MOST PART WAS WINDING DOWN WITH A LOSS OF DAYTIME HEATING. SAID 'FOR THE MOST PART'...AS A FEW SHOWERS CONTINUED TO FORM ALONG THE I-75 CORRIDOR ACROSS EASTERN TENNESSEE...AS WELL AS ACROSS FAR NW GEORGIA AND PARTS OF NORTHERN ALABAMA SOUTH OF THE TENNESSEE RIVER. GIVEN THE FRONT LYING ACROSS THE AREA AND RECENT SHOWER DEVELOPMENT...OPTED TO KEEP ISOLATED SHOWER/THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY GOING FOR THE OVERNIGHT FOR MUCH OF OUR NORTHERN ALABAMA FORECAST AREA...WITH OUR TENNESSEE COUNTIES STAYING DRY. LOW TEMPS COULD POSSIBLY NEAR THE UPPER 60S IN SOME OF THE 'COOLER' SPOTS OVER SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE BEFORE DAYBREAK TUESDAY. MADE ADJUSTMENTS WITH TEMPS/DEWPOINTS THROUGH THE EVENING/OVERNIGHT...ESPECIALLY NORTH OF THE TENNESSEE RIVER. UPDATES HAVE ALREADY BEEN PUBLISHED AND SHIPPED. && .HUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AL...NONE. TN...NONE. && RSB
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 1020 PM CDT MON AUG 16 2010 ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-171030- LAUDERDALE-COLBERT-FRANKLIN AL-LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-MADISON-MORGAN- MARSHALL-JACKSON-DEKALB-CULLMAN-MOORE-LINCOLN-FRANKLIN TN- 1020 PM CDT MON AUG 16 2010 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT... THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE...MAINLY SOUTH OF THE TENNESSEE RIVER THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT. SOME OF THE STRONGER STORMS COULD PRODUCE TORRENTIAL RAINFALL...ALONG WITH FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING AND GUSTY WINDS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY... A FRONTAL BOUNDARY WILL STALL AND REMAIN OVER THE AREA THROUGH MUCH OF THE PERIOD. THIS WILL KEEP THE AREA IN AN UNSETTLED WEATHER PATTERN...RESULTING IN SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. THE HIGHEST THREAT OF WIDESPREAD THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY WILL OCCUR ON WEDNESDAY. STRONGER STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING HEAVY RAINFALL...GUSTY WINDS AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL IS NOT ANTICIPATED. RSB/CBD
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
827 PM CDT MON AUG 16 2010
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0750 PM FLASH FLOOD ALBERTVILLE 34.26N 86.21W
08/16/2010 MARSHALL AL EMERGENCY MNGR
NUMEROUS WATER COVERED ROADWAYS IN THE CITY OF
ALBERTVILLE.
&&
SLATIMERThe Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 29 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 06:00 UTC.
3 heavy rain, 1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
A rainfall total of 6.60 inches was measured by a COOP observer 2 miles north of Scottsboro. He also reported that roads were still closed and some businesses in Scottsboro were flooded.
The USDA Scan weather station in the Hytop community measured 3.5 inches of rainfall between 1 am and 10 am.
Total rainfall measured by a HCN COOP site through 8 am at Scottsboro airport reached 4.59 inches.
Heavy rainfall of totaling between 3 and 8 inches fell from near Hytop to just west of Stevenson and southward into Scottsboro. The hardest hit areas were in Scottsboro and just to its north, where between 5 and 8 inches of rainfall fell. This caused numerous roads in Scottsboro to be closed or barricaded as early as 6 am CDT. The Scottsboro airport recorded 4.59 inches of rainfall through 7 am CDT. By 740 am CDT, three feet of water was reported covering the Hardee's parking lot on Broad Street in Scottsboro. Two cars drove into a flooded ditch at this location and a walkway over the ditch was washed away.
Heavy rainfall continued in these areas through 9 am, causing extensive flash flooding. By 830 am, significant flash flooding was impacting residences on highway 79. Several water rescues had to be performed at residences near Maple avenue in Scottsboro by 9 am CDT. Additional flash flooding caused by the rainfall caused Dry Creek to overflow and cover a runway at the Scottsboro Airport with 3 to 4 inches of water. At this point 6.68 inches of rain was reported by a secondary weather station at the Scottsboro Airport. This total is suspected to be an underestimate.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alabama in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in Alabama, August 2010
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: 258428, 258429, 258426, 258416.