A strong winter storm system moving across the Midwest brought a sharp cold front through Central Alabama during the afternoon and evening hours on Feb 1. A few strong storms along the front produced isolated areas of wind damage and ponding of water on roadways.
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 BMX wrote it up.
A strong winter storm system moving across the Midwest brought a sharp cold front through Central Alabama during the afternoon and evening hours on Feb 1. A few strong storms along the front produced isolated areas of wind damage and ponding of water on roadways.
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 Feb 1, 5:52 PM CST, 53 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 552 PM CST TUE FEB 1 2011 .UPDATE...00Z AVIATION. && .DISCUSSION... THIS AFTERNOON...HAVE A WARM FRONT EXTENDING FROM AROUND TCL TO EUF...ALONG WITH AROUND A 20 DEGREE DEW PT SPREAD FROM NE TO SW ACROSS THE CWA. WEDGE ACROSS THE NE HELPING TO KEEP WARM/MOIST GULF AIR FROM SPREADING AS FAR INTO C AL. GUSTY ERLY WINDS AT ANB WITH LOWER 50S DEW PTS EVIDENT ON METARS AIDING TO HAMPER THE MORE HUMID AIR FROM PROGRESSING. FRONTAL SYSTEM MAKING GOOD PROGRESS ACROSS MS THIS AFTERNOON WITH WINDS ALREADY SHIFTING AT JAN. GOOD PROGRESS IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. DECENT JET DYNAMICS WILL HELP TO USHER SYSTEM ACROSS. THINKING THAT OUR MAIN TORNADIC WINDOW WILL BE SMALL IN THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING ACROSS THE SRN PORTIONS OF C AL. MUCH COOLER AND DRY AIR IS PUSHED IN DURING THE LATE NIGHT HRS AS A VERY STRONG HIGH SINKS SWD ACROSS THE ROCKY MTN/C U.S...EXIT ROUND 1. ON TO ROUND 2...SHORT WAVE ACTIVITY EXPECTED ALONG THE SE PART OF AL AND ALONG THE COAST FOR WED NT. AS WILL BE IN THE SHALLOW COLD SFC AIR BEHIND THE FRONT...WILL HAVE A SLIGHT CHANCE OF RAIN... POSSIBLY CHANGING OVER THE FREEZING RAIN ALONG AND S OF I-85...AS OVERNIGHT MIN TEMPERATURES WILL BE FLIRTING WITH THE FREEZING MARK AND COLD AIR WILL BE SHALLOW. THEN...AS WE MOVE INTO THURSDAY DAYTIME...MOISTURE IS EXPECTED TO STREAM BACK INTO AL OVER-RIDDING A SHALLOW COLD STABLE LAYER AT THE SFC WHERE N/NE FLOW REMAINS BUT A LOW PRESSURE CENTER BEGINS TO DEVELOP OVER THE SW GULF. SW/SRLY FLOW AT 850MB WILL HELP INCREASE MOISTURE INTO THE AREA FROM THE GULF AND SW FLOW AT 500MB WILL HELP USHER SEVERAL SHORT WAVE IMPULSES ACROSS THE AREA. SO WILL LOOK TO SEE MOISTURE AND RAIN CHANCES SPREAD BACK NWD ACROSS C AL ON THU OF THE COLD RAIN VARIETY WITH HIGHS ONLY IN THE 40S. AS WE MOVE INTO THE OVERNIGHT HRS THU NT A MIXED BAG OF FROZEN PRECIP WILL BE POSSIBLE AS TEMPERATURES IN THE SHALLOW COLD AIR NEAR THE SFC GO DOWN TO NEAR 30 NW TO THE MID 30S ACROSS THE AREA...WITH A WARM NOSE ALOFT. MOST OF THE AREA SHOULD REMAIN ABOVE FREEZING DURING THE NIGHT BUT SOME AREAS ACROSS THE NW WILL GO BELOW AND WILL BE MOST VULNERABLE. HOWEVER...WINDOW WILL BE SMALL AND SHOULD GO ABOVE FREEZING INTO THE 40S DURING THE DAY FRI. WILL NEED TO WATCH AS WATCH THIS AREA FOR POSSIBLE HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS. AS WE MOVE INTO FRI DAYTIME...START TO HAVE SOME TIMING ISSUES WITH MODEL SOLUTIONS. GFS PULLS A FRONT THROUGH TO HELP DRY THINGS OUT TOO SOON. 12Z RUN A LITTLE MORE INTO ALIGNMENT WITH EURO BUT MORE CONFIDENT IN SLOWER SOLUTION THAT FAR OUT AS GFS IN NOTORIOUS FOR MOVING SYSTEMS OUT TOO QUICK. THEREFORE...COULD HAVE RAIN CHANGING OVER TO SNOW AS COLDER COLUMN OF AIR MOVES IN ON FRI NT BEFORE ALL OF THE MOISTURE LEAVES THE AREA. THIS SYSTEM WILL HELP TO REINFORCE COOLER AIR FOR THE WEEKEND AND A MOST APPRECIATED BREAK FOR SUN IN THE PRECIPITATION ACTIVITY. BUT NO...THAT/S NOT ALL...IF YOU HAVEN/T HAD ENOUGH...YET A 3RD SYSTEM IS POSSIBLE FOR LATE NEXT MONDAY IN OUR FAR EXTENDED AS ANOTHER STRONG FRONTAL SYSTEM APPROACHES WITH YET ANOTHER POSSIBILITY OF A WINTRY MIX FOR ALABAMA. HOWEVER...EXTENDED MODELS LOVE TO DANGLE THIS WINTER CARROT IN FRONT OF US...WITH MUCH UNCERTAINTY IN STRENGTH AND TIMING. HOWEVER...ALWAYS ENOUGH TO KEEP OUR INTEREST. 08/MNK && .AVIATION...00Z TAF DISCUSSION. THE BACK EDGE OF THE PRECIP IS RAPIDLY PROGRESSING EWD...MUCH QUICKER THAN ANTICIPATED. THE COLD FRONT IS CURRENTLY APPROACHING NW AL AND WILL MOVE EWD ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA THIS EVENING. TSRA CAN BE EXPECTED FOR ANOTHER COUPLE HRS IN THE SOUTH...WITH MAINLY RA AT BHM/EET/ANB. PRECIP HAS ALREADY ENDED AT TCL WITH SOME -SHRA IN THE VICINITY. HAVE PRECIP ENDING AT ALL OTHER SITES BY APPROX 03Z. THESE TIMES MAY HAVE TO BE ADJUSTED IF THE QUICKER DRYING TREND CONTINUES. WINDS WILL REMAIN GUSTY THRU THE EARLY MORNING HRS ON WED...AND WILL SHIFT FROM SE TO SW AND THEN TO NW BEHIND THE FRONT. CIGS REMAIN VERY TROUBLESOME TO FORECAST THIS EVNG AS THEY HAVE BEEN FLUCTUATING GREATLY THIS AFTN. OVERALL EXPECT MVFR CIGS TO PREVAIL THRU WED MRNG BEFORE RISING TO VFR AS SKIES CLEAR. VIS WILL ALSO BE AN ISSUE WITH THE HEAVIER RAIN AND STORMS AND COULD DROP TO IFR BRIEFLY. OTHERWISE EXPECT VIS TO IMPROVE TO VFR AS THE PRECIP COMES TO AN END. NOTICE...KEET TAF WILL HAVE (AMD LTD TO VIS WIND AND WX) AMENDED TO THE END OF THE FORECAST THROUGH THE END OF THE 2010/2011 WINTER SEASON. THE CEILOMETER DATA WILL BE GOING THROUGH NUMEROUS TESTS AND MONITORED FOR ACCURACY. 19 && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 141 PM CST TUE FEB 1 2011/ UPDATE...MESOSCALE UPDATE. MESOSCALE DISCUSSION... AT 130 PM...NARROW SQUALL LINE IN MS EXTENDED SOUTHWARD FROM GREENWOOD TO JACKSON...TO BATON ROUGE LA. OTHER BANDS OF CONVECTION WERE NOTED OVER SOUTHEAST MS AND SOUTHWEST AL. INDIVIDUAL CONVECTIVE CELLS WERE RACING TO THE NORTH IN EXCESS OF 50 KTS. THE LOW-LEVEL JET...LLJ...ON THE ORDER OF 55 TO 65 KTS...WAS RIGHT OVER I-55 IN MS AT 1 PM. THIS LLJ IS EXPECTED TO MOVE EAST INTO WESTERN AL BY 3 PM...AND BE OVER I-65 IN AL BY 6 PM. EXCESSIVE LOW-LEVEL SHEAR WILL REMAIN HIGHEST OVER THE NORTHERN COUNTIES...WHILE THE INSTABILITY WILL BE QUITE LIMITED EVERYWHERE. MUCAPES ARE EXPECTED TO INCREASE TO 200-400 J/KG OVER CWA BETWEEN 3 AND 6 PM. THE MOST SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER PARAMETERS REMAIN OVER THE GULF OF MEXICO THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE DAY. VALUES OVER CENTRAL AL REMAIN MINIMAL...BUT ARE STILL NON-ZERO. BEST WINDOW OF SEVERE WEATHER THREAT APPEARS TO BE BETWEEN 3 AND 6 PM. A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT JUST TO OUR SOUTH AND WE WILL BE MONITORING FOR ANY UPSWINGS IN CONVECTION. 03 && .BMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 6 AM CST WEDNESDAY FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES: AUTAUGA...BARBOUR...BIBB...BLOUNT...BULLOCK... CALHOUN...CHAMBERS...CHEROKEE...CHILTON...CLAY...CLEBURNE... COOSA...DALLAS...ELMORE...ETOWAH...FAYETTE...GREENE...HALE... JEFFERSON...LAMAR...LEE...LOWNDES...MACON...MARENGO...MARION... MONTGOMERY...PERRY...PICKENS...PIKE...RANDOLPH...RUSSELL... SHELBY...ST. CLAIR...SUMTER...TALLADEGA...TALLAPOOSA... TUSCALOOSA...WALKER...WINSTON. && 08/19/03
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 618 PM CST TUE FEB 1 2011 ALZ011>015-017>050-030019- AUTAUGA-BARBOUR-BIBB-BLOUNT-BULLOCK-CALHOUN-CHAMBERS-CHEROKEE- CHILTON-CLAY-CLEBURNE-COOSA-DALLAS-ELMORE-ETOWAH-FAYETTE-GREENE-HALE- JEFFERSON-LAMAR-LEE-LOWNDES-MACON-MARENGO-MARION-MONTGOMERY-PERRY- PICKENS-PIKE-RANDOLPH-RUSSELL-SHELBY-ST CLAIR-SUMTER-TALLADEGA- TALLAPOOSA-TUSCALOOSA-WALKER-WINSTON- 618 PM CST TUE FEB 1 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE COUNTIES SERVED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN BIRMINGHAM. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. THERE REMAINS A SMALL THREAT FOR AN ISOLATED TORNADO ACROSS THE SOUTHEASTERN COUNTIES THIS EVENING AS A NARROW LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS MOVES THROUGH AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT. THE SEVERE THREAT WILL BE POSSIBLE SOUTH OF A LINE FROM HAYNEVILLE...TO ECLECTIC TO AUBURN THROUGH 9 PM. IN ADDITION...STRONG GUSTY WINDS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS ALL OF CENTRAL ALABAMA INTO WEDNESDAY MORNING WITH POSSIBLE GUSTS TO 35 MPH. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY. GRADIENT WINDS MAY LAST INTO WEDNESDAY WITH A FEW GUSTS OF 25 TO 30 MPH POSSIBLE. TEMPERATURES ARE GOING TO VITAL FOR WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT...AS WINTRY PRECIPITATION WILL BE POSSIBLE. ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT THE THREAT FOR FREEZING RAIN WILL BE LIMITED TO SOUTH OF THE INTERSTATE 85 CORRIDOR AS TEMPERATURES WILL BE NEAR FREEZING...AS MOISTURE MOVES OUT OF THE AREA. FOR THURSDAY NIGHT...A WINTRY MIX WILL BE POSSIBLE FOR AREAS ALONG OR NORTH OF SELMA TO HEFLIN LINE. SOUTH OF THIS LINE...GENERALLY RAIN WILL OCCUR. BY FRIDAY AND INTO FRIDAY NIGHT...THE THREAT FOR WINTRY MIX WILL MOVE SOUTH AND IMPACT MOST OF CENTRAL ALABAMA. CONFIDENCE ON THE WINTRY PRECIPITATION REMAINS LOW AT THIS TIME AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE AS THE SYSTEM APPROACHES. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL MAY BECOME NECESSARY THIS AFTERNOON ESPECIALLY WEST AND SOUTH.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
308 PM CST TUE FEB 1 2011
ALZ030>032-039-012200-
GREENE AL-HALE AL-MARENGO AL-SUMTER AL-
308 PM CST TUE FEB 1 2011
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR GREENE...HALE...SUMTER AND
MARENGO COUNTIES UNTIL 400 PM CST...
AT 306 PM CST...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WAS TRACKING A STRONG
LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS 14 MILES WEST OF CUBA...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 55
MPH.
PEA SIZE HAIL AND WIND GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS
STORM.
LOCATIONS IN OR NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE...
CUBA...
YORK...
LIVINGSTON...
LINDEN...
DEMOPOLIS...
&&
LAT...LON 3298 8835 3299 8804 3297 8752 3214 8752
3213 8761 3201 8762 3200 8767 3200 8811
3206 8812 3209 8805 3214 8805 3217 8801
3228 8803 3231 8800 3231 8843
TIME...MOT...LOC 2107Z 235DEG 64KT 3240 8859
GOGGINSSPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
339 PM CST TUE FEB 1 2011
ALZ011>013-022-023-031-012245-
FAYETTE AL-GREENE AL-LAMAR AL-MARION AL-PICKENS AL-TUSCALOOSA AL-
339 PM CST TUE FEB 1 2011
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR MARION...LAMAR...FAYETTE...
WESTERN TUSCALOOSA...PICKENS AND NORTHERN GREENE COUNTIES UNTIL 445
PM CST...
AT 336 PM CST...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WAS TRACKING STRONG
THUNDERSTORMS ALONG THE MISSISSIPPI STATE LINE...MOVING EAST AT 40
MPH.
WIND GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THESE STORMS.
LOCATIONS IN OR NEAR THE PATH OF THESE STORMS INCLUDE...
PICKENSVILLE...
ALICEVILLE...
SULLIGENT...
VERNON...
CARROLLTON...
&&
LAT...LON 3433 8816 3431 8764 3299 8771 3301 8771
3299 8771 3300 8835
TIME...MOT...LOC 2138Z 271DEG 34KT 3432 8841 3303 8840
GOGGINSThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 heavy rain, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Due to heavy rainfall associated with a thunderstorm, three inches of water was reported flowing across a portion of Antioch Road.
Heavy rainfall associated with a strong thunderstorm resulted in ponding of water on the roadway near the intersection of Alabama Highway 111 and County Road 23 in Holtville.
Strong winds brought down cable and telephone lines near the intersection of Highway 231 and George Wallace Drive.
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: 288345, 288346, 288339.