Below normal precipitation fell during the middle part of February. This caused drought conditions to worsen across portions of central Alabama.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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.
Below normal precipitation fell during the middle part of February. This caused drought conditions to worsen across portions of central Alabama. Severe drought (D2) conditions began across Lowndes and Autauga Counties.
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 21, 11:29 PM CST, 31 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 1129 PM CST MON FEB 21 2011 .UPDATE...06Z AVIATION. && .DISCUSSION... CURRENT RADAR TRENDS FROM NQA AND GWX SHOW ONLY VERY LIGHT SHOWERS AT BEST MOVING ACROSS NORTHERN MISSISSIPPI...SOUTH CENTRAL TENNESSEE AND FAR NORTHWEST ALABAMA...MUCH PROBABLY NOT EVEN REACHING THE GROUND. OUT OF OUR MODEL CHOICES THIS EVENING THE NAM LOOKS TO INITIALIZE THE BEST OVER THE REGION. GFS/EURO APPEAR TO OVERDO THE QPF. ALSO AS THE FRONT APPROACHES MOISTURE TRENDS TO BECOMING MORE AND MORE SHALLOW...WITH VIRTUALLY NO QPF ACROSS CENTRAL ALABAMA TONIGHT. HAVE SCALED BACK POPS FOR TONIGHT. COMBINATION OF SOUTHWEST WINDS AND LOW CLOUDS HURTING OVERNIGHT COOLING AND THUS HAVE TAPERED TEMPERATURES UP. MAIN TEMPERATURE CHANGES WILL AFFECT THE SOUTHERN COUNTIES WITH SURFACE FRONT STILL APPROACHING FROM THE NORTHWEST. UPDATE ALREADY OUT. 08/MNK && .AVIATION...06Z TAF DISCUSSION. THE COLD FRONT IS NOW APPROACHING NW PORTIONS OF THE FORECAST AREA AND WILL SLOWLY PUSH SEWD OVERNIGHT. THERE ARE A FEW ISOLATED LIGHT SHOWERS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS BOUNDARY...BUT RAIN CHANCES ARE TOO LOW TO MENTION ANY WX AT ANY TERMINALS. SE WINDS OF 5-10 KTS WILL PERSIST OVERNIGHT AND THEN SWITCH TO THE NW BEHIND THE FRONT. CIGS CONTINUE TO BE THE MAIN CONCERN FOR THIS FORECAST PERIOD...ESPECIALLY DURING THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. MODELS HAVE NOT BEEN HANDLING THE CLOUD DECKS VERY WELL AT ALL TODAY. THEREFORE DO NOT HAVE MUCH CONFIDENCE IN THE CURRENT MODEL FORECASTS FOR CIGS TONIGHT. VFR CIGS SHOULD CONTINUE FOR A FEW MORE HOURS WITH A SCT DECK OF 1500 TO 2500 FT WORKING INTO THE NORTHERN PORTION OF THE AREA SOMETIME AFTER 09Z. THIS DECK HAS THE POSSIBILITY TO BECOME BKN OR EVEN OVC AT TIMES...BUT AFTER LOOKING AT OBS UPSTREAM BELIEVE VFR CIGS WILL PREVAIL. IN THE SOUTH...SKIES HAVE BEEN MOSTLY CLEAR FOR SEVERAL HOURS NOW ALLOWING TEMPS TO DROP QUICKER. THIS COMBINED WITH HIGHER DEW POINTS IN THE AREA COULD LEAD TO MVFR CIGS AT MGM/TOI BETWEEN 07Z AND 13Z. ALREADY SEEING SOME LOW CLOUD DECKS SHOWING UP IN SATELLITE IMAGERY ACROSS SW AL. VIS MAY ALSO BE REDUCED AT TIMES IF PATCHY FOG DEVELOPS. HERE AGAIN CONFIDENCE IS JUST TOO LOW TO LOWER VIS BELOW VFR AT THIS TIME. 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 628 PM CST MON FEB 21 2011/ UPDATE...EVENING FORECAST. DISCUSSION... QUICK UPDATE TO REMOVE WIND ADVISORY WORDING FROM ALL PUBLIC PRODUCTS. ADVISORY HAS BEEN ALLOWED TO EXPIRE AT 6 PM AS WINDS HAVE TAPERED OFF ACROSS CENTRAL ALABAMA. NO OTHER CHANGES AT THIS TIME. 08/MNK PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 302 PM CST MON FEB 21 2011/ DISCUSSION... EARLY SPRING CONTINUES ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST...AS WE CONTINUE SEVERE WEATHER AWARENESS WEEK. FOR INFORMATION CONCERNING SEVERE WEATHER AWARENESS WEEK VISIT THE FRONT PAGE AND CLICK ON THE HEADLINE ON THE TOP OF THE PAGE. A COLD FRONT WILL SLOWLY SLIDE SOUTHWARD THIS EVENING AND EVENTUALLY CLEAR THE AREA BY TUESDAY AFTERNOON. RAIN CHANCES WILL BE THE HIGHEST EVENING ACROSS THE NORTH AS THE MAIN UPPER LEVEL FEATURES AND SURFACE LOW SLIDE TO THE NORTHEAST AWAY FROM THE AREA. EXPECTED ONLY RAINFALL THIS EVENING AND THOSE STRONGER DYNAMICS WILL REMAIN WELL NORTH OF THE AREA. THERE MAY STILL BE A FEW SHOWERS AROUND SOUTH OF THE I-85 CORRIDOR THROUGH NOON TUESDAY...BUT THOSE SHOULD REMAIN ISOLATED AT BEST. THIS FRONT WILL HELP CLEAR THE AREA FOR TUESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH WEDNESDAY AND INTO THURSDAY MORNING. MODELS ARE SHOWING AN INCREASE IN POPS BY THURSDAY AFTERNOON...ESPECIALLY ACROSS THE NORTH. THE BETTER CHANCES COME INTO THE AREA THURSDAY NIGHT INTO FRIDAY MORNING AS THE NEXT COLD FRONT WORKS THROUGH. RIGHT NOW ONLY EXPECTED GENERAL THUNDERSTORMS AS MOST OF THE DYNAMICS REMAIN NORTH OF THE AREA. LOOKING AT PROFILES FROM THIS MORNING THERE WAS VERY LITTLE CAPE TO DEAL WITH ALONG WITH POSITIVE LIFTED INDEX VALUES. THE LATEST GFS RUN NOW SHOWS AN LIFTED INDEX OF -1.5 WITH CAPE UP TO 568 J/KG. THE TIME FRAME FOR ANY STRONG ACTIVITY WOULD BE LIMITED TO GENERALLY AROUND 10 PM IN THE NORTHWEST TO 10 AM IN THE SOUTHEAST. CONFIDENCE NOT HIGH ENOUGH TO INCLUDE ANY SEVERE THREAT IN THE HWO AT THIS TIME...BUT WOULD SAY THE TREND IS HEADED THAT WAY AND IF THE MODELS CONTINUE THIS WITH THE 00Z MODELS THEN THE SEVERE THREAT MAY NEED TO BE ADDRESSED OVERNIGHT THURSDAY INTO FRIDAY. THE PATTERN CONTINUES TO BE A VERY PROGRESSIVE PATTERN THROUGH THE REST OF THE FORECAST PERIOD AS ANOTHER SYSTEM WILL TRY TO DEVELOP SUNDAY EVENING AND REMAIN AROUND THE AREA THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING. WE WILL NOT SEE RAIN AND OR THUNDERSTORMS FOR THIS ENTIRE PERIOD...BUT WILL LIKELY SEE SEVERAL WAVES WORK THROUGH THE AREA...BEFORE THE CLEARING COLD FRONT BY NEXT TUESDAY MORNING. TRENDED TEMPERATURES TOWARD THE EURO NUMBERS FOR THE WEEKEND AND ONWARD. 16 && .BMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && 08/19/16
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 610 PM CST MON FEB 21 2011 ALZ011>015-017>050-230015- 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- 610 PM CST MON FEB 21 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE COUNTIES SERVED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN BIRMINGHAM. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. 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 national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Severe (D2) drought conditions begin for Autauga County.
Severe (D2) drought conditions begin for Lowndes County.
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: 291435, 291436.