On Friday, August 9, the upper level ridge axis across the Lower Mississippi River Valley deamplified and ridging stretched from west to east across the Southeast. 00 inches, isolated convection developed during the late afternoon as mesoscale boundaries collided.
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.
On Friday, August 9, the upper level ridge axis across the Lower Mississippi River Valley deamplified and ridging stretched from west to east across the Southeast. With weak zonal flow aloft and precipitable water values over 2.00 inches, isolated convection developed during the late afternoon as mesoscale boundaries collided.
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 Aug 9, 5:58 PM CST, 2 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 658 PM CDT FRI AUG 9 2013 .UPDATE... FOR 00Z AVIATION. && .DISCUSSION... SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM COVERAGE HAS NOT BEEN QUITE AS EXTENSIVE TODAY EVEN WITH PWAT VALUES OVER 2.1 INCHES. SLIGHTLY WARMER AIR ALOFT HAS HELPED SUPPRESS DEVELOPMENT AND THE ACTIVITY SHOULD DIMINISH THROUGH THE LATE EVENING HOURS. THE HIGHEST RAIN CHANCES SHOULD SHIFT NORTH OF I-20 FOR SATURDAY AND SUNDAY NEAR THE SOUTHERN EDGE OF A MID-LEVEL HEIGHT GRADIENT AND WEAK LOW-LEVEL CONVERGENCE ZONE. HAVE INDICATED A SLIGHTLY LARGER TEMPERATURE GRADIENT FROM NORTH TO SOUTH DUE TO CLOUDS AND POSSIBLE RAIN ACROSS THE NORTH. DEWPOINTS IN THE MID 70S AND TEMPERATURES APPROACHING THE MID 90S WILL CONTRIBUTE TO HEAT INDICES OF 100-104 DEGREES ACROSS THE SOUTHERN HALF. RAIN CHANCES WILL BE ON THE INCREASE AREAWIDE BY MONDAY IN ASSOCIATION WITH GRADUALLY FALLING MID-LEVEL HEIGHTS. HAVE SHOWN A SLOW DECREASE IN DAY TO DAY AFTERNOON HIGHS THROUGH THURSDAY AS A TROUGH BECOMES ESTABLISHED OVER THE REGION. BLANKET 60 POPS SEEM REASONABLE FOR MONDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY WITH MID-LEVEL COOLING AIDING IN SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT. 87/GRANTHAM && .AVIATION... 00Z TAF DISCUSSION. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL END OVERNIGHT WITH A REPEAT OF PATCHY IFR/MVFR CEILINGS. CLOUDS WILL LIFT BY 15Z WITH SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS AGAIN TOMORROW AFTERNOON. 88 && .BMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 107 PM CDT FRI AUG 9 2013 ALZ011>015-017>050-101800- 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- 107 PM CDT FRI AUG 9 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE COUNTIES SERVED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN BIRMINGHAM. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS MAY PRODUCE LOCALIZED FLOODING DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. 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 Birmingham radar (KBMX), 89 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:04 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck the First Church of the Nazarene, causing a fire that destroyed the building. Fire personnel on the scene estimated damages to be greater than $775K.
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: 474432.