A mid level trough of low pressure moved across the area and produced scattered thunderstorms and very heavy rainfall, which resulted in a few reports of flash flooding in northwest 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.
A mid level trough of low pressure moved across the area and produced scattered thunderstorms and very heavy rainfall, which resulted in a few reports of flash flooding in northwest 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 9, 9:24 AM CST, 2 hours 6 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 1024 AM CDT FRI AUG 9 2013 .UPDATE... MORNING UPDATE. && .DISCUSSION... A MID LEVEL SHORT WAVE MOVING THROUGH SOUTH CENTRAL KENTUCKY WITH TRAILING PVA INTO SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE WAS TRIGGERING A BROKEN LINE OF SHRA/TSRA AS OF 15Z. WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR DEVELOPMENT OF SHRA/TSRA THROUGH THE AFTERNOON AND WILL KEEP IN AT LEAST A CHANCE MENTION OF SHRA/TSRA. THE NAM AND RAP MODELS BOTH INDICATE THAT SOME DRYING AND SUBSIDENCE IN THE LOWER TO MID LAYERS IN THE WAKE OF THIS PRECIP AREA WILL MOVE INTO THE FORECAST AREA THIS AFTERNOON. AM NOT SURE HOW MUCH THE DRYING WILL HINDER THE DEVELOPMENT OF SHRA/TSRA THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. BASED UPON THE TEMP TRENDS ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA THIS MORNING...HAVE DECIDED TO BUMP UP TEMPS SLIGHTLY ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA FOR THE AFTERNOON. HAVE ONLY MADE MINOR CLOUD COVER AND DEWPOINT TEMP CHANGES BASED UPON CURRENT TRENDS. THE FORECAST UPDATE WILL BE ISSUED SHORTLY. TT && .AVIATION... /ISSUED 610 AM CDT FRI AUG 9 2013/ FOR 12Z TAFS... VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL OUTSIDE OF THUNDERSTORM AREAS AGAIN TODAY. THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP AS EARLY AS ~17Z AND LINGER INTO THE EARLY EVENING HOURS. CONFIDENCE REMAINS TOO LOW TO INCLUDE AS A PREVAILING OR TEMPO GROUP AT EITHER KMSL AND KHSV, BUT HAVE MAINTAINED A VCTS AT BOTH. +RA IN THE STORMS WILL LOWER VSBYS INTO THE IFR RANGE FOR BRIEF PERIODS WITH MVFR CIGS PSBL. GUSTY WINDS AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING ARE ALSO EXPECTED. THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD DECREASE IN COVERAGE AFTER SUNSET. AK && .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 402 AM CDT FRI AUG 9 2013 ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-092100- LAUDERDALE-COLBERT-FRANKLIN AL-LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-MADISON-MORGAN- MARSHALL-JACKSON-DEKALB-CULLMAN-MOORE-LINCOLN-FRANKLIN TN- 402 AM CDT FRI AUG 9 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... VERY HUMID AND UNSTABLE AIR WILL REMAIN CONDUCIVE TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT TODAY...ESPECIALLY THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY THIS EVENING. THE STRONGER STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF INTENSE RAINFALL IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME...FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND GUSTY WINDS UP TO 50 MPH. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY... SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS WILL REMAIN POSSIBLE EACH DAY THROUGH AT LEAST WEDNESDAY...MAINLY DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING HOURS. A COLD FRONT DROPPING SOUTH INTO THE REGION EARLY NEXT WEEK MAY PRODUCE MORE PROLONGED PERIODS OF HEAVY RAINFALL WHICH COULD ELEVATE THE RISK OF RIVER AND STREAM FLOODING. THE PRIMARY RISKS FROM THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE INTENSE DOWNPOURS...BRIEF GUSTY WINDS...AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
1201 PM CDT FRI AUG 9 2013
ALZ001>003-091800-
LAUDERDALE AL-COLBERT AL-FRANKLIN AL-
1201 PM CDT FRI AUG 9 2013
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR EASTERN LAUDERDALE...SOUTHEASTERN
COLBERT AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES UNTIL 100 PM CDT...
AT 1201 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED AN
AREA OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDING NORTHEAST FROM ABOUT 12 MILES
EAST OF RED BAY...TO NEAR ROGERSVILLE...SLOWLY MOVING EAST AT AROUND
10 MPH.
VERY HEAVY RAINFALL RANGING FROM AN INCH TO UP TO NEARLY TWO INCHES
AND WIND GUSTS UP TO 30 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THESE STORMS.
LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
MUSCLE SHOALS...RUSSELLVILLE...LITTLEVILLE...LEIGHTON...VINA AND
HODGES.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
HEAVY RAINFALL OCCURRING WITH THESE STORMS MAY LEAD TO MINOR
FLOODING ON ROADS AND IN LOW LYING AREAS. DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE
THROUGH FLOODED ROADWAYS.
&&
LAT...LON 3434 8817 3491 8746 3490 8722 3480 8734
3480 8743 3476 8742 3472 8743 3431 8792
TIME...MOT...LOC 1652Z 240DEG 49KT 3439 8792
TTThe Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 103 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:27 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Flash flooding occurred with six inches to a foot of water flowing across the roads on highway 133, Wilson Dam road, Spring Valley road and old highway 20 and in the Leighton community.
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: 472664.