A cold front moved through northern Alabama during the afternoon hours of September 11th, resulting in strong thunderstorms developing and downing isolated trees across portions of the area.
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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 cold front moved through northern Alabama during the afternoon hours of September 11th, resulting in strong thunderstorms developing and downing isolated trees across portions of the area.
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 Sep 11, 11:39 AM CST, 1 hour 35 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 1239 PM CDT FRI SEP 11 2015 .UPDATE... FOR 18Z TAFS && .DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 1014 AM CDT FRI SEP 11 2015/ AS OF THE 15Z SURFACE AND UPPER LEVEL ANALYSIS...THE FORECAST AREA REMAINS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF A BROAD UPPER LEVEL TROUGH...WITH THE ASSOCIATED SURFACE LOW WELL TO THE NORTH. A COLD FRONT WAS TRAILING SOUTHWESTWARD FROM THE LOW...FROM EASTERN CANADA...THROUGH SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...AND INTO EASTERN OKLAHOMA. CLOSER TO HOME...AN ABUNDANCE OF LOW LEVEL MOISTURE WAS OBSERVED THIS MORNING ACROSS THE TN VALLEY...LEADING TO SEVERAL AREAS OF DENSE FOG. WITH THE SUNRISE AND BOUNDARY LAYER MIXING...MORNING FOG HAS LIFTED LEAVING MOST AREAS UNDER MOSTLY SUNNY SKIES. LATEST TEMPERATURES WERE RUNNING RIGHT AROUND FORECAST VALUES...WITH OBS REPORTING TEMPS IN THE LOW TO MID 70S. LOOKING TO THE WEST...A FAIRLY LARGE OUTFLOW BOUNDARY WAS MOVING ACROSS NORTHERN MISSISSIPPI...THE REMNANTS OF AN OVERNIGHT MCS. THIS BOUNDARY WAS AIDING IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCATTERED SHOWERS...HOWEVER THESE HAVE SINCE DIMINISHED DUE TO THE CAPPING INVERSION IN PLACE. AS THE SURFACE CONTINUES TO WARM UNDER MOSTLY SUNNY SKIES...THE INVERSION WILL DIMINISH...WITH THE OUTFLOW BOUNDARY ENTERING THE CWA BY THE LATE MORNING TO EARLY AFTERNOON HOURS. THIS WILL PROVIDE THE NECESSARY LIFT FOR SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS MUCH OF THE AREA. FORECAST SOUNDINGS INDICATE THAT MID AND UPPER LEVEL WINDS WILL BE IN THE 30 TO 40 KT RANGE. FORECAST INSTABILITY THIS AFTERNOON WILL BE SUFFICIENT TO PRODUCE UPDRAFTS THAT WILL BE CAPABLE OF TAPPING INTO THE MID AND UPPER LEVEL WINDS. THEREFORE...AN ISOLATED STRONG WIND GUST IS POSSIBLE...THOUGH NO WIDESPREAD STRONG OR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED. THE COLD FRONT WILL ENTER THE AREA AFTER THE 00Z TIME FRAME...WITH SCATTERED TO NUMBERS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUING. AS FOR THE FORECAST...DID NOT MAKE TOO MANY CHANGES TO THE PREVIOUS FORECAST. WITH THE SETUP EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON...LIKELY POPS SEEM REASONABLE AND TEMPS WILL BE SIMILAR TO THOSE OBSERVED YESTERDAY. ONLY CHANGES MADE WERE TO UPDATE THE HOURLIES TO ACCOUNT FOR CURRENT TRENDS. 73 && .AVIATION... FOR 18Z TAFS...THE FIRST OF TWO AREAS OF SHRA/TSRA WILL BE MOVING THROUGH THE TAF SITES WITHIN THE 18Z-20Z TIME FRAME. HAVE KEPT IN AT LEAST A VCTS TO ACCOUNT FOR THE BROKEN LINE OF SHRA/EMBEDDED TSRA THAT IS MOVING THROUGH NORTHWEST ALABAMA AS OF 1730Z. ANOTHER LINE OF SHRA/TSRA SHOULD IMPACT THE AREA NEAR THE 20Z-01Z TIME FRAME. WILL THEN FOCUS ON LOWERING CEILINGS INTO THE MVFR RANGE AFTER 00Z AT HSV/MSL AND INTO THE IFR RANGE BETWEEN 08Z/09Z. THERE WILL BE A SLOW IMPROVEMENT AS THE CEILINGS SHOULD RISE INTO THE MVFR/VFR RANGE FROM WEST TO EAST AFTER 16Z AT MSL AND AT LEAST IN THE MVFR RANGE AT HSV THROUGH THE END OF THE FORECAST PERIOD. TT && .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 1246 PM CDT FRI SEP 11 2015 ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-121015- LAUDERDALE-COLBERT-FRANKLIN AL-LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-MADISON-MORGAN- MARSHALL-JACKSON-DEKALB-CULLMAN-MOORE-LINCOLN-FRANKLIN TN- 1246 PM CDT FRI SEP 11 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP ALONG AND AHEAD OF A REINFORCING COLD FRONT EXPECTED TO MOVE THROUGH THE AREA LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING. GUSTY WINDS AND BRIEF HEAVY RAINFALL ARE POSSIBLE WITH A FEW OF THE STRONGER STORMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY... ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS RETURN TO THE FORECAST ON THURSDAY ACROSS NORTHWEST ALABAMA...AS ANOTHER STORM SYSTEM APPROACHES FROM THE WEST. .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 857 AM CDT FRI SEP 11 2015 ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-111500- LAUDERDALE-COLBERT-FRANKLIN AL-LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-MADISON-MORGAN- MARSHALL-JACKSON-DEKALB-CULLMAN-MOORE-LINCOLN-FRANKLIN TN- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...FLORENCE...MUSCLE SHOALS...RUSSELLVILLE... MOULTON...ATHENS...HUNTSVILLE...DECATUR...GUNTERSVILLE... SCOTTSBORO...FORT PAYNE...CULLMAN...LYNCHBURG...FAYETTEVILLE... WINCHESTER 857 AM CDT FRI SEP 11 2015 ...PATCHY DENSE FOG POSSIBLE THROUGH 10 AM... PATCHY DENSE FOG WILL CONTINUE ACROSS ESPECIALLY VALLEY LOCATIONS IN THE AREA THROUGH 10 AM. VISIBILITIES IN THESE LOCATIONS MAY BE LOWER THAN A HALF OF A MILE OR LESS AT TIMES. IF YOU ARE DRIVING...YOU ARE ENCOURAGED TO SLOW DOWN AND ALLOW EXTRA TIME TO REACH YOUR DESTINATION THIS MORNING. LEAVE PLENTY OF SPACE BETWEEN YOU AND THE CAR IN FRONT OF YOU. TT
The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 116 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:13 UTC.
2 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A tree and power line was downed by thunderstorm winds.
A tree was downed onto a home by thunderstorm winds.
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, September 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: 598456, 598457.