A strong winter storm which tracked northeast through Arkansas, southeast Missouri into southern Illinois brought a sharp cold front eastward into the Tennessee Valley. Gusty southeast winds ahead of the front produced isolated wind damage in northwest Alabama during the late afternoon hours.
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 strong winter storm which tracked northeast through Arkansas, southeast Missouri into southern Illinois brought a sharp cold front eastward into the Tennessee Valley. Gusty southeast winds ahead of the front produced isolated wind damage in northwest Alabama during the late afternoon hours. A line of showers just ahead of the front produced gusty winds as well.
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 Feb 1, 3:03 PM CST, 1 hour 25 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
303 PM CST TUE FEB 1 2011
.DISCUSSION...WENT MAINLY WITH GFS FOR THIS FCST PACKAGE.
SFC LOW NOW OVER THE MEM AREA WITH CDFNT ALONG THE MS RIVER AND A
WARM FRONT ACROSS CENTRAL AL. OTHERWISE TEMPS ACROSS THE CWA WERE IN
THE LOW/MID 50S WITH DEWPOINTS RANGING FROM THE LOW 40S OVER NE AL
TO LOW 50S ACROSS NW AL...THANKS TO A LITTLE WEDGING EFFECT OVER OUR
ERN ZONES.
TONIGHT...BOTH GFS AND NAM HAS THE CDFNT ENTERING NW AL BY 6 PM THEN
QUICKLY MOVING ACROSS THE CWA AND OUT OF THE TN VALLEY ARND MIDNIGHT.
ALSO THE SHRA AND ISOLATED TSRA ACTIVITY WILL BE TAPERING OFF ARND
MIDNIGHT AS WELL. AFTER MIDNIGHT COLD AIR WILL RUSH ACROSS THE AREA
TURNING WHATEVER MOISTURE IS LEFT TO A RAIN/SNOW MIX MAINLY BETWEEN
06Z AND 09Z...NO ACCUMULATIONS. WINDS WILL BEGIN TO DIMINISH A LITTLE
AFTER MIDNIGHT BUT WITH SUCH A STRONG PRESSURE GRADIENT DUE TO THE
SFC LOW MOVING NE TOWARDS THE OHIO VALLEY....WILL KEEP THE WIND
ADVISORY GOING.
AS FOR SEVERE WX...THE THREAT CONTINUES TO DIMINISH ACROSS OUR AREA AND
SPC JUST TOOK OUT MOST OF OUR COUNTIES EXCEPT CULLMAN. STILL HOWEVER
CANT RULE OUT FEW STRONG STORMS WITH HEAVY RAIN/GUSTY WINDS AHEAD OF
THE CDFNT AS IT MOVES ACROSS THE TN VALLEY TONIGHT.
WEDNESDAY...VERY DRY COLD AIR WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE ACROSS THE CWA
KEEPING TEMPS IN THE MID/UPPER 30S FOR AFTN HIGHS. SINCE THE
ATMOSPHERE IS SO DRY...TOOK OUT MENTION OF FLURRIES. TEMPS WILL
CONTINUE TO DROP WEDNESDAY NIGHT INTO THE LOW 20S.
THURSDAY...WILL BE COLD/DRY DUE TO HIGH PRESSURE...BUT BY LATE
THURSDAY NIGHT...A DIGGING TROF OVER TX WILL BEGIN A GOOD LOW LEVEL
FLOW OF MOISTURE BACK TOWARDS THE TN VALLEY.
.FRIDAY/SATURDAY...LOOKS LIKE WITH GOOD ISENTROPIC LIFTING ON FRIDAY
ANOTHER PCPN EVENT IS TAKING SHAPE. WILL NOT GET FANCY WITH DETAIL
ATTM BUT DEPENDING ON TEMPS AND TIMING OF UPPER TROF COULD SEE
ANOTHER RAIN/SNOW MIX. GFS HAS ENOUGH COLD TEMPS FOR ALL SNOW AFTER
MIDNIGHT FRIDAY AND SATURDAY MRNG. WAY TO EARLY TO PREDICT ANY
ACCUMULATIONS IF ANY.
SUNDAY THRU TUESDAY...ANOTHER WEAK TROF LOOKS TO MOVE ACROSS THE AREA
ON SUNDAY WITH ONLY AN INCREASE IN CLOUDS...AS THE ATMOSPHERE MAY BE
TO DRY FOR ANY PCPN. HOWEVER BY MONDAY ANOTHER CDFNT WITH MORE
ARCTIC AIR WILL BE HEADING TOWARDS OUR CWA. BASED ON GFS...MONDAY
NIGHT LOOKS LIKE THE BEST CHC OF PCPN WHICH COULD BE ANOTHER RAIN/SNOW
MIX. WILL KEEP TUESDAY DRY BUT A LOT COLDER.
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
HUNTSVILLE 29 38 23 38 28 / 100 10 10 10 10
SHOALS 28 36 22 39 28 / 100 10 10 10 10
VINEMONT 28 37 22 37 28 / 100 10 10 10 10
FAYETTEVILLE 28 36 22 39 27 / 100 10 10 10 10
ALBERTVILLE 30 38 23 39 30 / 100 10 10 10 10
FORT PAYNE 30 38 22 38 28 / 100 10 10 10 10
&&
.HUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
AL...WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 6 AM CST WEDNESDAY FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES:
COLBERT...CULLMAN...DEKALB...FRANKLIN AL...JACKSON...
LAUDERDALE...LAWRENCE...LIMESTONE...MADISON...MARSHALL...
MORGAN.
TN...WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 6 AM CST WEDNESDAY FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES:
FRANKLIN TN...LINCOLN...MOORE.
&&
07HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 425 PM CST TUE FEB 1 2011 ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-020400- LAUDERDALE-COLBERT-FRANKLIN AL-LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-MADISON-MORGAN- MARSHALL-JACKSON-DEKALB-CULLMAN-MOORE-LINCOLN-FRANKLIN TN- 425 PM CST TUE FEB 1 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT... A POWERFUL STORM SYSTEM WILL IMPACT THE TENNESSEE VALLEY WITH STRONG WINDS...SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH TONIGHT. A STRENGTHENING PRESSURE GRADIENT AROUND THIS SYSTEM WILL RESULT IN SOUTHERLY WINDS IN THE 20 TO 30 MPH RANGE LATE THIS AFTERNOON...SWITCHING TO THE WEST AROUND 25 TO 35 MPH THIS EVENING AFTER A COLD FRONT CROSSES THE AREA. WIND GUSTS COULD APPROACH OR EXCEED 45 MPH...ESPECIALLY IN THE HIGHER TERRAIN. A WIND ADVISORY WILL BE IN EFFECT FOR THE TENNESSEE VALLEY THROUGH TONIGHT. A NARROW LINE OF HEAVY SHOWERS WITH A FEW EMBEDDED THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO CROSS NORTHWEST ALABAMA...POSSIBLY REACHING THE INTERSTATE 65 CORRIDOR BY 5 PM...AND ALONG A LINE FROM SCOTTSBORO TO FORT PAYNE AROUND 6 TO 7 PM. THE PRIMARY THREAT WITH THIS LINE OF SHOWERS AND STORMS WILL BE STRONG OR DAMAGING WIND GUSTS. A COLD FRONT WILL QUICKLY FOLLOW BEHIND THE LINE OF SHOWERS AND STORMS...CLEARING NORTHEAST ALABAMA BY LATE EVENING. THE THREAT FOR STRONG TO SEVERE WEATHER WILL DIMINISH FROM WEST TO EAST AS THE COLD FRONT PASSES. TOTAL RAINFALL WITH THIS SYSTEM OF UP TO ONE INCH IS ANTICIPATED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY... SHARPLY COLDER TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED IN THE WAKE OF THE COLD FRONT. TEMPERATURES BY DAYBREAK WEDNESDAY SHOULD DROP TO BELOW FREEZING IN MOST AREAS. PATCHY FREEZING DRIZZLE OR VERY LIGHT SNOW IS POSSIBLE AROUND DAYBREAK. HOWEVER...MUCH DRIER AIR FILTERING ACROSS THE REGION AND A BRISK NORTHWEST WIND SHOULD MINIMIZE WINTRY WEATHER PROBLEMS. NO ACCUMULATIONS ARE EXPECTED. ANOTHER SYSTEM WILL BRING A MIX OF RAIN AND SNOW TO PARTS OF THE TENNESSEE VALLEY DURING FRIDAY AND EARLY SATURDAY. IT IS TOO EARLY TO ASCERTAIN POTENTIAL IMPACTS AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME.
The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 125 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:27 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A tree was blown down and fell on a house just west of Cloverdale.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alabama in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Alabama, February 2011
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: 283651.