Dry and warm conditions with no precipitation and daytime high temperatures in the 80s preceded a dry cold front that crossed north Alabama on October 16th. When this front passed, northerly winds of 10-15 MPH with gusts to 20 MPH occurred on October 16th as minimum RH values dropped to 20%.
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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.
Dry and warm conditions with no precipitation and daytime high temperatures in the 80s preceded a dry cold front that crossed north Alabama on October 16th. When this front passed, northerly winds of 10-15 MPH with gusts to 20 MPH occurred on October 16th as minimum RH values dropped to 20%. As a strong high pressure system moved in behind the cold front, winds increased again on October 17th which combined with RH values close to 20% led to the issuance of a Red Flag Warning.
The surface high pressure system then prevailed for much of the following week from October 18th through October 23rd. Winds that were initially gusting to 10 MPH on October 18th and October 19th, gradually decreased to light southerly surface winds (Note: Some of the wind gusts [October 22nd] that were forecast over the burn site in Spot Forecasts occurred at the Bankhead RAWS site but did not occur at the burn site). The southerly winds led to gradual increase in minimum RH values through the week with minimum RH values dropping close to 35% by October 20th. With the increase in moisture and lack of cloud cover, patchy ground fog was possible during the mornings of October 19th-23rd.
The ridge of high pressure then began breaking on October 23rd with cloud cover beginning to move over the burn site. More opaque and dense cloud cover along with light rain showers developed and moved over the burn site by October 24th. With cloud cover and southerly winds, temperatures were about 10 degrees cooler on October 24th which resulted in high minimum RH values close to 60%. More substantial rain showers and cooler temperatures would then develop and move across the burn site on October 25th, and especially October 26th as an upper low moved across the Gulf of Mexico coast into Alabama. Scattered light rain and generally cool weather with southeast wind gusts up to 15 MPH continued on October 27th. As of the time of this writing (6:00 PM CDT October 27, 2015), approximately 1.60 inches of rain had fallen near the burn site (according to the Bankhead RAWS site).
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
NWS Huntsville received reports of a wildfire in the Bankhead NF on Oct. 16. Given favorable meteorological conditions for several days, the fire grew to over 1,900 acres before being contained thanks to rainfall. No significant structures were destroyed or were in threat.
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, October 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: 601701.