Differential heating on either side of an earlier stratus deck set up a surface boundary that helped to focus lift in an already unstable environment.
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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 BMX wrote it up.
Differential heating on either side of an earlier stratus deck set up a surface boundary that helped to focus lift in an already unstable environment.
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 Birmingham, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 27, 2:36 PM CST, 2 hours 19 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 336 PM CDT FRI AUG 27 2010 .DISCUSSION... SEVERAL FEATURES OF INTEREST THIS AFTERNOON. FIRST WE HAVE A LINGERING BOUNDARY DOWN THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS INTO NE AL. 2ND WE HAVE OUR SFC FRONT WHICH HAS BEEN PRESENT ACROSS THE SRN EDGE OF THE CWA WHICH IS MORE OF A WARM FRONT NOW EXTENDING BACK TO THE SW INTO THE WRN GULF TO A SFC LOW CREATING A INVERTED TROUGH ACROSS FROM NE TO SW ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA. THIS IS NOTICEABLE IN OUR VISIBLE SATELLITE IN THE ORIENTATION OF THE CLOUD DEVELOPMENT AND ON THE RADAR AS SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS HAVE POPPED UP. THIS IS MAKING FOR A SE/ESE FLOW DEVELOPING HELPING TO BRING IN MORE MOISTURE. WE HAVE SEEN OUR DEW POINTS/RH'S INCREASE TODAY. MODEL GUIDANCE CONTINUES TO GO WITH AN OVERALL WETTER PATTERN WITH THE HIGH PRESSURE NOT BUILDING AS STRONG OR AS FAR SOUTH AS ONCE LOOKED TO BE THE CASE. THUS...THIS PACKAGE IS TRENDING WETTER OVER THE WEEKEND AND FURTHER NWD WITH THAT MOISTURE. AS WE MOVE INTO THE BEGINNING OF NEXT WEEK...WITH STILL KEEP MOISTURE AXIS AROUND ACROSS C AL WITH HIGHEST RAIN CHANCES TO THE S. BEST CHANCES WILL BE ALONG THESE BOUNDARIES IN THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING WITH HEATING. AS WE MOVE INTO MID WEEK...FOR NOW...GUIDANCE IS ATTEMPTING TO BUILD THE HIGH A TAD CLOSER WHICH COULD HELP TO PUSH SOME OF THE MOISTURE TO THE W. WILL SEE LOWER TEMPERATURES FOR SUN/MON TIME FRAME BUT THE CHANGE IS THAT THIS WILL BE DUE MORE TO INCREASED CLOUD COVER AND RAIN CHANCES THAN THAT OF DRIER COOLER AIR...AT LEAST FOR PART OF THE AREA... DEPENDING ON WHERE THIS AXIS ENDS UP. HOWEVER...LOOKING MORE LIKELY THAT AN UMBRELLA MAY BE NEEDED OFF AND ON OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS. 08/MNK && .AVIATION...18Z TAF DISCUSSION. RAIN SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP NEAR MGM AND TOI OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL HOURS. THIS IS THE AREA WHERE WE EXPECT MOST OF THE CONVECTION TO OCCUR. ALONG THE NORTHERN TAF SITES...A SLOW NORTHWARD MOVING FRONT COULD ALSO HELP TRIGGER A FEW THUNDERSTORMS LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. COVERAGE IS EXPECTED TO BE VERY ISOLATED AT THIS TIME AND THUS WILL NOT INCLUDE ANY MENTION OF WEATHER IN THE PREVAILING GROUPS. SIMILAR CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TONIGHT WITH LOW STRATUS CLOUDS AND POSSIBLY LOW VISIBILITIES. THESE CONDITIONS WILL MORE THAN LIKELY EXTEND DURING THE EARLY MORNING HOURS TOMORROW. NOTICE...KEET TAF WILL HAVE (AMD LTD TO VIS WIND AND WX) AMENDED TO THE END OF THE FORECAST THROUGH THE END OF 2010. THE CEILOMETER DATA WILL BE GOING THROUGH NUMEROUS TESTS AND MONITORED FOR ACCURACY. 10 && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GADSDEN 65 92 70 88 69 / 20 20 20 30 20 ANNISTON 67 90 68 87 67 / 20 20 20 30 20 BIRMINGHAM 69 91 69 88 68 / 20 20 20 30 20 TUSCALOOSA 68 92 69 89 68 / 20 30 30 50 30 CALERA 68 90 69 87 68 / 20 30 30 40 30 AUBURN 70 87 70 85 67 / 20 30 30 30 20 MONTGOMERY 72 88 72 86 71 / 30 40 40 50 30 TROY 72 86 72 85 69 / 40 50 40 50 30 && .BMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && 08/10
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 1237 PM CDT FRI AUG 27 2010 ALZ011>015-017>050-281745- MARION-LAMAR-FAYETTE-WINSTON-WALKER-BLOUNT-ETOWAH-CALHOUN- CHEROKEE-CLEBURNE-PICKENS-TUSCALOOSA-JEFFERSON-SHELBY-ST. CLAIR- TALLADEGA-CLAY-RANDOLPH-SUMTER-GREENE-HALE-PERRY-BIBB-CHILTON- COOSA-TALLAPOOSA-CHAMBERS-MARENGO-DALLAS-AUTAUGA-LOWNDES-ELMORE- MONTGOMERY-MACON-BULLOCK-LEE-RUSSELL-PIKE-BARBOUR- 1237 PM CDT FRI AUG 27 2010 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE COUNTIES SERVED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN BIRMINGHAM. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 43 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:56 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A tree and several limbs fell on a mobile home. One limb was 24 inches in diameter.
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: 254624.