An upper level storm system in the vicinity of north Alabama, produced widely scattered thunderstorms that resulted in isolated flash flooding in northwest Alabama and isolated thunderstorm wind damage in northeast Alabama.
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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.
An upper level storm system in the vicinity of north Alabama, produced widely scattered thunderstorms that resulted in isolated flash flooding in northwest Alabama and isolated thunderstorm wind damage in northeast Alabama.
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 Aug 21, 9:45 AM CST, 48 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 1045 AM CDT WED AUG 21 2013 .UPDATE... MORNING UPDATE. && .DISCUSSION... WILL BE AMENDING THE FORECAST SHORTLY TO UPDATE PRECIP CHANCES...CLOUD COVER...TEMPS AND DEWPOINT TEMPS FOR THE FORECAST AREA. THE LAST SEVERAL SATELLITE AND RADAR IMAGES ACROSS THE AREA HAVE INDICATED THAT MID LEVEL FORCING ALONG WITH AN UPPER LEVEL JET STREAK WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SHRA/TSRA DEVELOPMENT ACROSS NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI...NORTH ALABAMA AND INTO SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE. PWAT VALUES WERE SLIGHTLY LOWER TODAY AND AROUND 1.5 INCHES...BUT EXPECT THAT SHRA/TSRA WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP IN THE CONVERGENCE ZONE THAT HAS SET UP ACROSS THE AREA. HAVE SLIGHTLY MODIFIED TEMPS...DEWPOINT TEMPS AND CLOUD COVER ALSO INTO THE AFTERNOON TO ACCOUNT FOR THE EXPECTED SCATTERED/NUMEROUS SHRA/TSRA DEVELOPMENT. EXPECT THE STORM DEVELOPMENT TO SLOWLY SHIFT SOUTHEASTWARD THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. TT && .AVIATION... /ISSUED 645 AM CDT WED AUG 21 2013/ FOR 12Z TAFS... MID LEVEL FORCING AND A NEARBY UPPER WIND SPEED MAXIMUM...ALONG WITH A MOIST/UNSTABLE AIRMASS WILL BE FAVORABLE FOR THE FORMATION OF SCATTERED SHOWER/THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS NORTHERN AL/SOUTHERN MIDDLE TN TODAY. ALTHOUGH REDUCED VIS/CIG VALUES ARE POSSIBLE WITHIN TODAYS CONVECTION...HAVE MAINTAINED VCTS RATHER THAN MORE THE DETERMINATE SHRA/TSRA. OTHERWISE...VFR CIGS/VIS SHOULD PREVAIL. MVFR FOG IS POSSIBLE BEFORE DAYBREAK THURSDAY MORNING...ESPECIALLY IF HEAVY RAINFALL OCCURS BEFOREHAND. RSB && .HUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AL...NONE. TN...NONE. && FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WEATHER.GOV/HUNTSVILLE.
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 430 AM CDT WED AUG 21 2013 ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-211815- LAUDERDALE-COLBERT-FRANKLIN AL-LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-MADISON-MORGAN- MARSHALL-JACKSON-DEKALB-CULLMAN-MOORE-LINCOLN-FRANKLIN TN- 430 AM CDT WED AUG 21 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE TENNESSEE VALLEY THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL...GUSTY WINDS...AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING WILL ACCOMPANY THE STRONGER STORMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY... THE PROBABILITY OF WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. A TRANSITION TO A MORE TYPICAL PATTERN OF ISOLATED AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING STORMS IS EXPECTED THROUGH THE END OF THE WEEK. A WARMING TREND...ALONG WITH RESIDUAL MOISTURE FROM RECENT RAINFALL...WILL PRODUCE HEAT INDICES RISING ABOVE 100 DEGREES ACROSS NORTHWEST ALABAMA DURING THURSDAY AFTERNOON. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. CCC
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 1026 AM CDT WED AUG 21 2013 TNZ076-096-097-211615- MOORE TN-LINCOLN TN-FRANKLIN TN- 1026 AM CDT WED AUG 21 2013 ...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR MOORE...LINCOLN AND WESTERN FRANKLIN COUNTIES UNTIL 1115 AM CDT... AT 1024 AM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A STRONG THUNDERSTORM NEAR FAYETTEVILLE...MOVING EAST AT 10 MPH. HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF PENNIES AND WIND GUSTS UP TO 30 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM. IN ADDITION...HEAVY RAINFALL MAY CAUSE MINOR FLODDING ON ROADS AND IN LOW LYING AREAS. LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE... FAYETTEVILLE AND LYNCHBURG. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... HEAVY RAINFALL OCCURRING WITH THIS STORM MAY LEAD TO MINOR FLOODING ON ROADS AND IN LOW LYING AREAS. DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE THROUGH FLOODED ROADWAYS. && LAT...LON 3504 8655 3523 8660 3534 8629 3508 8621 TIME...MOT...LOC 1524Z 254DEG 8KT 3517 8649 CCC
The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 101 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 16:32 UTC.
1 flash flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Flash flooding occurred with at least 18 inches of water flowing across Daniel Street in Cherokee, Alabama.
A few 12 inch diameter trees were sheared at between 70 and 80 feet high off of the ground by thunderstorm winds.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alabama in 2013Every state in 2013This day in weather historyWarnings in Alabama, August 2013
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: 471588, 471589.