A warm and unstable air mass led to several days of isolated to scattered showers and thunderstorms and an isolated flooding event.
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 warm and unstable air mass led to several days of isolated to scattered showers and thunderstorms and an isolated flooding event.
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 Jul 27, 6:13 AM CST, 1 hour 47 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 713 AM CDT WED JUL 27 2011 .UPDATE... FOR AVIATION. && .AVIATION... 12Z TAF DISCUSSION. MINOR BR AT I-20 TAF SITES WITH CLEAR SKIES. LOW CLOUDS HAVE BEEN MORE PREVALENT ACROSS THE SOUTHERN TAFS...MGM/TOI CLOSER TO WEAK BOUNDARY THAT LINGERS ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PART OF CENTRAL ALABAMA. A FEW TSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO BE POSSIBLE ACROSS THIS AREA TODAY WITH MORE OF A FOCUS AND MUCH GREATER MOISTURE THERE. OTHERWISE... MINOR BR ACROSS I-20 CORRIDOR SHOULD MIX OUT AFTER SUNRISE BY MID MORNING. NOT MUCH CHANGE FOR TONIGHT AS MINOR BR ONCE AGAIN POSSIBLE AS AIRMASS WILL NOT CHANGE SIGNIFICANTLY. NOTICE...KEET TAF WILL HAVE (AMD LTD TO VIS WIND AND WX) AMENDED TO THE END OF THE FORECAST UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. THE CEILOMETER DATA WILL BE GOING THROUGH NUMEROUS TESTS AND MONITORED FOR ACCURACY. 08/MNK && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 343 AM CDT WED JUL 27 2011/ DISCUSSION... OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF DAYS...MODELS HAVE DONE A FAIRLY DECENT JOB WITH THE LATEST SHORTWAVE TROUGH ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST. DRY AIR ALOFT HAS FILTERED IN NICELY ACROSS MOST OF THE STATE AS EVIDENT BY THE 00Z SOUNDING LAST NIGHT AND THE CLEAR SKIES ACROSS MOST OF THE CWA. BUT CLEAR SKIES...CALM WINDS AND MOIST GROUND CONDITIONS COULD CREATE A PROBLEM IN THE WAY OF DENSE PATCHY FOG FOR THE MORNING COMMUTE. WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED TO SEE A FEW LOW LYING SPOTS BE BOTHERED WITH ONLY ONE OR TWO MILES OF VISIBILITY FOR A COUPLE OF HOURS THIS MORNING...THOUGH NOT EXPECTING IT TO BE WIDESPREAD ENOUGH TO WARRANT A FOG ADVISORY. BURNING OFF FAIRLY QUICKLY...FOG WILL GIVE WAY TO MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES ONCE AGAIN FOR A LARGE PORTION OF THE AREA. THIS WILL ALLOW FOR TEMPERATURES TO CLIMB INTO THE MID 90S TODAY...THE WARMEST DAY OF THE WEEK SO FAR. TEMPERATURES SHOULD RESET ONCE AGAIN ON THURSDAY AS THE WEAK BOUNDARY FROM MONDAY AND TUESDAYS SHORTWAVE REVERSES COURSE AND TRACKS BACK TO THE NORTH AS A WARM FRONT. THIS MEANS MORE CLOUD COVER...LIKELY OF THE MID AND HIGH LEVEL VARIETY...GIVING US ENOUGH INSOLATION TO KEEP US IN THE LOW 90S. IN THIS SAME TIME FRAME...EYES TURN TO THE GULF OF MEXICO TO SEE HOW THE FIRST GULF DISTURBANCE OF THE SEASON WILL UNFOLD. NHC HAS DETERMINED ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR TROPICAL DEVELOPMENT OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. MODELS ARE PRETTY CONSISTENT AT THIS POINT IN TRACK KEEPING IT TO OUR SOUTH HEADED TOWARDS THE TEXAS COAST...MAINLY BECAUSE OF THE HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE OVER THE SOUTHEAST STATES. ALL GOOD NEWS FOR THOSE IN TEXAS. THROUGH THE WEEKEND...THE MEANDERING SUMMERTIME RIDGE WILL WORK ITS WAY BACK TO THE CENTRAL PLAINS. THE LATEST GFS RUN WOULD SUGGEST INCREASED RAIN CHANCES OVER THE WEEKEND...BUT THIS IS AS THE RIDGE AXIS MOVES OVER TOP OF US...SO I'M FEELING AT THIS POINT THAT THE QPF BEING SHOWN IS A LITTLE OVER-AGGRESSIVE AND WILL LEAN TOWARDS THE DRIER EURO SOLUTION. THERE WILL STILL BE A CHANCE OF DIURNALLY DRIVEN ACTIVITY BUT NOTHING SHOULD BE TOO WIDESPREAD. BY THE END OF THE WEEKEND...AS THE RIDGE REACHES THE CENTRAL PLAINS...ANOTHER SHORTWAVE TROUGH SHOULD BEGIN DIGGING INTO THE SOUTHEAST...MUCH LIKE THE ONE WE'VE SEEN OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF DAYS. THE PROBLEM IS THAT MOST OF THE FORCING MAY STAY TO OUR EAST AND ALABAMA MAY END UP IN A NORTHERLY UPPER LEVEL FLOW. THIS COULD SPELL MUCH WARMER TEMPERATURES FOR US...POTENTIALLY PUSHING US INTO THE MIDDLE TO UPPER 90S BY THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. SO AFTER THURSDAY OF THIS WEEK...LOOK FOR TEMPERATURES TO GRADUALLY INCREASE EACH DAY...AS SUPPORTED BY MOST GUIDANCE VALUES. 27 && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GADSDEN 95 71 91 72 93 / 10 10 30 20 30 ANNISTON 95 73 91 73 94 / 20 20 30 20 30 BIRMINGHAM 96 75 90 75 93 / 20 20 30 30 30 TUSCALOOSA 97 74 93 74 96 / 20 20 40 30 30 CALERA 94 73 90 73 93 / 20 20 40 20 30 AUBURN 92 72 89 73 92 / 30 20 40 20 20 MONTGOMERY 93 73 93 73 95 / 30 20 40 20 30 TROY 91 71 91 71 95 / 40 20 50 20 20 && .BMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && 08/27
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 600 AM CDT WED JUL 27 2011 ALZ011>015-017>050-281230- 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- 600 AM CDT WED JUL 27 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE COUNTIES SERVED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN BIRMINGHAM. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. 08/MNK
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Up to 6 inches of water flooded two brick homes.
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, July 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: 336116.