As temperatures reached the middle to upper 90s with dew points in the middle to upper 70s, the heat index reached 110 degrees in Muscle Shoals and nearby locations during the afternoon hours.
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The episode as NWS HUN wrote it up.
As temperatures reached the middle to upper 90s with dew points in the middle to upper 70s, the heat index reached 110 degrees in Muscle Shoals and nearby locations during the afternoon hours.
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 5, 8:31 AM CST, 1 hour 29 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Huntsville AL 931 AM CDT FRI AUG 5 2016 .UPDATE... Removed patchy fog wording, otherwise no changes attm. && .DISCUSSION... Sct cu are beginning to form across the cwa as daytime heating continues. Attm there are no echos on area radars but that should change especially this aftn as isolated to sct shra/tsra will develop. Will maintain the heat advisory for our nwrn zones. Otherwise the current fcst looks on track. 007 && .AVIATION... (Issued 624 AM CDT FRI AUG 5 2016) For 12Z TAFs: A SCT/BKN deck of clouds AOA 5000ft has developed along a mid-level boundary that is currently over the TN Valley. Clouds will remain scattered throughout the day with ceilings remaining above 5000ft. This boundary may allow for isolated convection to form but confidence in any storms impacting either terminal is too low to include in the current package. Winds will favor a N/NW direction through the day with speeds remaining below 10kts. Light and variable winds and increasing clouds are expected tonight into Saturday morning. Stumpf && .PREV DISCUSSION... (Issued 624 AM CDT FRI AUG 5 2016) (Issued 438 AM CDT FRI AUG 5 2016) Satellite imagery analysis this morning indicates a complex pattern leading to some uncertainty in the forecast for today. The shortwave that brought storms to the area yesterday has shifted east into NC/VA region, the stagnant high pressure remains over the OK/TX area, a complex of storms formed along the midwestern cold front Thursday evening and has been dropping S overnight into MO, and finally a not well forecast easterly wave is situated along the FL Gulf coast. In between all of these features is a pocket of drier air evident in latest WV imagery and GPS soundings via the UCAR Suominet where PW's drop to around 1.2 inches. All of these features make the PoP forecast for today a bit uncertain. A few weak pop-up showers have been forming off and on overnight and appear to be related to what is likely some mid-level boundary/forcing between the region of drier air and mesoscale high pressure over S AL/MS. This boundary and good moisture still present over the area may result in a few storms developing shortly after sunrise today. Then as we go through the day forecast soundings show the drier air moving in and mixing down towards the surface. Although believe that models (NAM/GFS/RAP) are over doing the transport of the drier air down to surface as 00Z soundings and surface obs over MO/IL Thursday evening indicated surface dewpoints holding in the lower 70s. The drier will help to limit development as it gets entrained into the updrafts, so have kept PoPs in the slight chance category for the entire area. Could see a bit more activity along the periphery of our CWA today where better moisture and forcing may be present but not confident enough to increase PoPs. The main concern for today is the heat and humidity. Temperatures are expected to warm a degree or two from yesterdays values with highs in the mid 90s for most areas. As discussed above the drier air may help to lower surface dewpoints slightly this afternoon and keep a majority of the area below Heat Advisory criteria. The exception to this will be in Lauderdale, Colbert, and Franklin counties where heat index values may top out around 108 today and have issued a Heat Advisory for these areas for today. The cold front mentioned above will begin to drop south tonight into Saturday as high pressure shifts SE out of Canada into the upper midwest. Models are struggling a bit with the timing of the front with the GFS and ECMWF on the slower side arriving into the area Saturday evening. The NAM and SREF are a bit faster with the front moving through during the day Saturday. Have gone more towards the faster solution as models tend to be on the slower side in bringing fronts through the area. Good forcing along the front should allow for scattered to widespread showers and storms to develop on Saturday and move from N to S across the area. With CAPE between 1500 to 2000 J/kg and shear less than 20 kts the main impacts will be heavy rain and gusty winds up to 40 mph. There is some discrepancy as to how far south the front makes it this weekend but the general consensus is that it will be to our south. Subsidence and drier air behind the front should keep much of the precip chances to the S/SE half of the area on Sunday. Expect temperatures to be near normal for Sunday and heading into early next week. Stumpf LONG TERM (Monday through Thursday)... A mid-level shortwave trough currently approaching the southern Appalachians is forecast to weaken and drift southeastward later this weekend. This will essentially form a broad weakness in the subtropical ridge across the southeastern Atlantic coast by 12Z Monday. As a portion of the subtropical ridge centered across the Arklatex region begins to build eastward early next week, an inverted 500-mb trough is likely to evolve from the weakness in the ridge and retrograde nw across the northeastern Gulf and into the southern CONUS by 12Z Wednesday. At the surface, our region will remain in a light northerly flow regime on Monday, with high pressure situated across New England and a weak frontal wave of low pressure to the south of the local area. It appears as if an inverted surface trough extending northward from the frontal wave will shift westward over the region from Monday into Tuesday, bringing isolated-widely scattered showers and thunderstorms. Coverage of this activity should remain on the low side due lingering impacts of dry air aloft and lack of mid-level forcing for ascent. Beginning Tuesday night-Wednesday, medium range guidance suggests that a mid-tropospheric low will cutoff within the inverted trough and lift northward into the region. This will allow deeper tropical moisture to spread northward, and favorable combination of lift/moisture will result in a greater coverage of precip during the second half of next week. There is still some concern about how quickly this process will occur based on position of strong blocking ridge to our north, and for this reason we have kept POPs in the chance category. Precipitation should become more showery during this period, with saturated profiles and weak lapse rates aloft limiting potential instability for thunderstorms. Temperatures will respond to the increase in cloud cover and precip, with highs falling back into the 85-90 degree range. 70/DD && .HUN Watches/Warnings/Advisories... AL...Heat Advisory until 9 PM CDT this evening for ALZ001>003. TN...NONE. && For more information please visit our website at weather.gov/huntsville.
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 529 AM CDT FRI AUG 5 2016 ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-061015- LAUDERDALE-COLBERT-FRANKLIN AL-LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-MADISON-MORGAN- MARSHALL-JACKSON-DE KALB-CULLMAN-MOORE-LINCOLN-FRANKLIN TN- 529 AM CDT FRI AUG 5 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... TEMPERATURES WILL RISE INTO THE MID 90S FOR MOST LOCATIONS THIS AFTERNOON, WITH HEAT INDEX VALUES IN THE 105 TO 109 DEGREE RANGE FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHWEST ALABAMA...AND 100 TO 105 DEGREE RANGE ELSEWHERE. A HEAT ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR NORTHWEST ALABAMA BETWEEN 11 AM AND 9 PM CDT. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE FOR ALL AREAS TODAY, WITH THIS ACTIVITY CONTINUING INTO THE EARLY EVENING HOURS. A REGENERATION OF STORMS MAY OCCUR CLOSE TO SUNRISE SATURDAY AS A COLD FRONT APPROACHES FROM THE NORTH. THE MAIN IMPACTS FROM ANY STORMS WILL BE WIND GUSTS OF 30 TO 40 MPH, LIGHTNING AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY... SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS ARE ANTICIPATED DURING THE DAY SATURDAY, AS THE COLD FRONT ADVANCES SOUTHWARD THROUGH THE CENTRAL TENNESSEE VALLEY. THE FRONT WILL LIKELY STALL NEAR OR JUST SOUTH OF THE REGION FROM SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT, WITH A LINGERING LOW CHANCE OF STORMS...MAINLY SOUTH OF THE TENNESSEE RIVER. AN APPROACHING UPPER LEVEL LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL MAINTAIN A SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE WEEK. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. 70/DD
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 heat, 2 excessive heat. Local standard time, as filed.
The heat index peaked at 110 degrees at 11:00 LST as the temperature hit 93 degrees combined with a dew point of 79 degrees.
The heat index peaked at 110 degrees at 11:00 LST as the temperature hit 93 degrees combined with a dew point of 79 degrees.
The heat index reached 105 degrees between 10:00 am LST and 13:00 am LST.
The heat index reached 105 degrees between 10:00 am LST and 13:00 am LST.
The heat index remained around 105 degrees between 13:00 am LST and 16:00 pm LST.
The heat index remained around 105 degrees between 13:00 am LST and 16:00 pm LST.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alabama in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Alabama, August 2016
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: 641507, 641508, 641509, 641510, 641511, 641512.