Very heavy rainfall of 1-2 inches in an hour produced isolated brief flash flooding in Decatur.
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The episode as NWS HUN wrote it up.
Very heavy rainfall of 1-2 inches in an hour produced isolated brief flash flooding in Decatur.
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 May 28, 1:17 PM CST, 3 hours 13 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 217 PM CDT THU MAY 28 2015 .DISCUSSION... THE 19Z IR/VISIBLE SATELLITE IMAGERY ALONG WITH UPPER AIR ANALYSIS INDICATED THAT A LINGERING SHORT WAVE TROUGH AT 500 MILLIBARS WAS THE CULPRIT TODAY INVOLVING THE INCREASING AREA OF SHOWERS/STORMS DEVELOPING OVER CENTRAL AND INTO NORTH ALABAMA. TEMPS WERE GENERALLY IN THE UPPER 70S TO NEAR 80 ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA. PWAT VALUES REMAINED IN THE 1.70 INCH RANGE ACROSS THE AREA INTO THE AFTERNOON AND SHOULD REMAIN BETWEEN 1.6 AND 1.7 INCHES THROUGH FRIDAY. WILL CONTINUE WITH HIGHER END CHANCE POPS THIS EVENING WITH THE SLOWER MOVING SHOWERS/STORMS AGAIN RESULTING IN A FLASH FLOOD THREAT IN A FEW LOCATIONS WHERE THERE ARE SATURATED SOILS. WILL BE WATCHING NORTHWEST ALABAMA PARTICULARLY...WHERE VERY HEAVY RAINFALL OCCURRED YESTERDAY AFTERNOON/EVENING. EXPECT LOW LEVEL SOUTHEAST-SOUTHERLY FLOW TO CONTINUE THROUGH THE UPCOMING WEEKEND. EXPECT CHANCE POPS THROUGH SATURDAY. THE MODELS ALSO INDICATE THAT A SLOW MOVING AND WEAKENING COLD FRONT WILL MOVE INTO THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY REGION BY 00Z SUNDAY. THE BOUNDARY IS PROGGED TO MAKE IT INTO MIDDLE TENNESSEE BY SUNDAY AFTERNOON. PWAT VALUES WILL REMAIN IN THE RANGE OF 1.5 TO NEARLY 1.7 INCHES THROUGH SUNDAY...AND EXPECT THERE WILL BE CONTINUED AFTERNOON/EARLY EVENING SHOWER/STORM CHANCES WITH HEAVY RAINFALL REMAINING A POSSIBILITY. THE GFS/ECMWF MODELS DISSIPATE THE WEAKENING COLD FRONT NEAR THE FORECAST AREA BY 00Z WEDNESDAY. WITH THE REMAINDER OF THE BOUNDARY REMAINING ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA THROUGH THE END OF THE EXTENDED FORECAST PERIODS...WILL CONTINUE WITH CHANCE POPS. WILL FOLLOW CLOSELY WITH THE SLIGHTLY COOLER ECMWF MODEL GUIDANCE THROUGH THE EXTENDED FORECAST PERIODS. TT && .AVIATION... /ISSUED 1239 PM CDT THU MAY 28 2015/ FOR 18Z TAFS... MVFR CIGS ARE BEGINNING TO SCATTER OUT AND WILL LEAVE CONDITIONS IN VFR CATEGORY WITH A FEW/SCT LOW LEVEL CLOUDS AOA 2KFT CONTINUING TO LINGER OVER THE TENNESSEE VALLEY. A WEAK UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE IS LOCATED ALONG THE MS/AL BORDER TODAY. THIS SYSTEM...ALONG WITH PEAK HEATING WILL HELP TO KICK OFF THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON. HEAVY RAIN...SMALL HAIL AND GUSTS UP TO 20-30KTS WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH ANY OF THE STORMS TODAY. ACTIVITY SHOULD BEGIN TO TAPER OFF SHORTLY AFTER SUNSET WITH A FEW SHOWERS LINGERING OVER THE AREA THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS. TONIGHT...EXPECT THE LOW CLOUDS TO REDEVELOP WITH CIGS IN THE MVFR CATEGORY. CONDITIONS COULD LOWER TO IFR BUT NOT CONFIDENT IN THE TIMING OR DURATION AND HAVE LEFT OUT OF THE CURRENT TAF PACKAGE. STUMPF && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... HUNTSVILLE 67 86 67 87 / 40 50 20 50 SHOALS 66 84 66 85 / 40 50 20 50 VINEMONT 65 82 65 84 / 40 50 20 50 FAYETTEVILLE 65 82 66 84 / 40 50 20 50 ALBERTVILLE 66 82 64 85 / 40 50 20 40 FORT PAYNE 65 83 63 85 / 40 50 20 40 && .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 123 PM CDT THU MAY 28 2015 ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-291200- LAUDERDALE-COLBERT-FRANKLIN AL-LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-MADISON-MORGAN- MARSHALL-JACKSON-DEKALB-CULLMAN-MOORE-LINCOLN-FRANKLIN TN- 123 PM CDT THU MAY 28 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP AGAIN THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS THE TENNESSEE VALLEY AND WILL CONTINUE INTO THE EVENING...BEFORE TAPERING OFF. SOME STORMS COULD PRODUCE STRONG WIND GUSTS...SMALL HAIL AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY... AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE FRIDAY AND SATURDAY BEFORE INCREASING IN COVERAGE SUNDAY AND MONDAY AS A COLD FRONT IMPACTS THE AREA. A SUMMER LIKE PATTERN OF AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS THEN RETURNS FOR THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. HOWEVER...TIMELY REPORTS ARE APPRECIATED.
The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 90 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:26 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Flash flooding was occurring with at least twelve inches of water over the road in Decatur, Alabama.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alabama in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in Alabama, May 2015
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: 577558.