A band of strong thunderstorms propagated westward through northern Alabama during the late afternoon and early evening hours. A strong thunderstorm produced gusty winds that knocked trees and power lines down in DeKalb County.
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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 band of strong thunderstorms propagated westward through northern Alabama during the late afternoon and early evening hours. A strong thunderstorm produced gusty winds that knocked trees and power lines down in DeKalb 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 May 26, 12:33 PM CST, 1 hour 26 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 133 PM CDT WED MAY 26 2010 .DISCUSSION... SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS HAVE DEVELOPED OVER THE CUMBERLAND PLATEAU THIS AFTERNOON AS THE BULK OF THE FORECAST AREA STILL REMAINS DRY. THESE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE MOVING SOUTHWEST AND EVENTUALLY ENTER NORTHEAST ALABAMA. DECIDED TO HOLD ON TO LOW END POPS/ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH THIS EVENING FOR ANY SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY THAT REMAINS. THINK MOST IF NOT ALL OF THE CONVECTION WILL DISSIPATE BY 10 PM GIVING WAY TO MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES. PATCHY FOG MAY DEVELOP OVERNIGHT...BUT THINK THIS SHOULD BE CONFINED TO JUST RIVER VALLEYS. THURSDAY WILL BE VERY SIMILAR TO TODAY WITH EVEN LESS COVERAGE OF PRECIPITATION. IN FACT...THE 12Z MAV MOS GUIDANCE CAME IN WITH NEAR ZERO POPS FOR TOMORROW LIKELY DUE TO THE PERSISTENT RIDGE OVERHEAD. THINK THAT IF ANY CONVECTION DEVELOPS...IT WILL LIKELY OCCUR OVER EXTREME NORTHWEST ALABAMA DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS. WITH LITTLE CONVECTION AND ONLY A CU FIELD AROUND THE AREA...HIGH TEMPERATURES ON THURSDAY SHOULD BE ABLE TO REACH THE UPPER 80S TO LOWER 90S. BY FRIDAY...A PIECE OF UPPER LEVEL ENERGY WILL DIVE SOUTHWARD TOWARDS THE FORECAST AREA ON THE BACKSIDE OF THE UPPER LOW STILL MEANDERING OFF THE EAST COAST. THIS FEATURE WILL BE THE FOCUS FOR AN INCREASE CHANCE OF CONVECTION FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING ESPECIALLY ACROSS AREAS EAST OF INTERSTATE 65. WITH ADDITIONAL CLOUD COVER AND CONVECTION AROUND...HIGH TEMPERATURES WILL NOT BE QUITE AS WARM BUT STILL ABOVE NORMAL WITH MOST LOCATIONS IN THE MID TO UPPER 80S. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL LINGER OVER THE AREA FRIDAY EVENING BEFORE DISSIPATING AFTER MIDNIGHT. MEDIUM RANGE MODELS ARE ACTUALLY IN VERY GOOD AGREEMENT FOR THE WEEKEND AS THE PESKY UPPER LOW BECOMES CLOSED OFF OVER THE AREA. AS A RESULT...HAVE INCREASED POPS FOR SATURDAY AND AGAIN ON SUNDAY AS THIS LOOKS TO BE THE BEST SET UP FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE NEXT SEVEN DAYS. SOME STORMS COULD BE STRONG WITH GUSTY WINDS...SMALL HAIL...AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL POSSIBLE. HIGH TEMPERATURES WILL GENERALLY REACH THE MID 80S DURING THIS TIME FRAME. BY THE START OF THE WORK WEEK...MOSTLY ZONAL UPPER FLOW WILL DEVELOP OVER THE REGION AS THE ABOVE MENTIONED UPPER LOW WEAKENS AND MOVES OUT OF THE AREA. A MORE TRADITIONAL SUMMERTIME PATTERN WILL SET UP WITH ONLY ISOLATED AFTERNOON AND EVENING SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED. TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN ABOVE NORMAL THROUGH AT LEAST WEDNESDAY. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... HUNTSVILLE 67 92 67 90 67 / 10 10 10 20 10 SHOALS 65 91 66 89 66 / 10 10 10 10 10 VINEMONT 63 88 64 87 64 / 10 10 10 30 20 FAYETTEVILLE 63 87 64 84 64 / 10 10 10 30 10 ALBERTVILLE 61 88 62 88 64 / 10 10 10 40 20 FORT PAYNE 60 88 61 88 63 / 10 10 10 40 20 && .HUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AL...NONE. TN...NONE. && KNS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 1258 PM CDT WED MAY 26 2010 ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-271030- LAUDERDALE-COLBERT-FRANKLIN AL-LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-MADISON-MORGAN- MARSHALL-JACKSON-DEKALB-CULLMAN-MOORE-LINCOLN-FRANKLIN TN- 1258 PM CDT WED MAY 26 2010 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. ALTHOUGH SOME GUSTY WINDS AND BRIEF HEAVY DOWNPOURS ARE POSSIBLE IN ANY STORMS THAT DO DEVELOP...WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT ANTICIPATED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY... THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. ISOLATED AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS WILL AGAIN BE POSSIBLE ON THURSDAY AS A SUMMER-LIKE WEATHER PATTERN PERSISTS. SCATTERED MAINLY AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE FROM FRIDAY THROUGH THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND AS HEAT AND HUMIDITY COMBINE WITH A STALLED FRONT. ANY OF THE STORMS COULD BECOME STRONG WITH GUSTY WINDS...SMALL HAIL...AND HEAVY DOWNPOURS. ISOLATED SEVERE STORMS CANNOT BE RULED OUT WITH DAMAGING WINDS THE MAIN THREAT. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. HOWEVER...SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS SHOULD REMAIN ALERT TO THE POTENTIAL FOR ISOLATED SEVERE STORMS DURING THE UPCOMING HOLIDAY WEEKEND. SL
The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 61 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:58 UTC.
2 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm winds blew down power lines along County Road 604 south of Mentone.
Thunderstorm winds knocked trees down along County Road 140 about 1/2 mile southeast of Highway 75.
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, May 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: 221916, 221917.