A thunderstorm produced 1 to 4 inches of rain in a portion of eastern Limestone and western Madison Counties within the city of Madison. 50 inches in 5 minutes.
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The episode as NWS HUN wrote it up.
A thunderstorm produced 1 to 4 inches of rain in a portion of eastern Limestone and western Madison Counties within the city of Madison. Mesonet observations indicated rainfall falling at a rate of around 0.50 inches in 5 minutes. The rapid rainfall and resulting runoff produced flash flooding rapidly on a few roads in the city of Madison.
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 8, 5:24 PM CST, 1 hour 57 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Huntsville AL 624 PM CDT MON AUG 8 2016 .UPDATE... For 00Z TAFs. && .DISCUSSION... (Issued 324 PM CDT MON AUG 8 2016) A wet to very warm/hot/muggy and unsettled pattern appears to be set in place across the southeastern states, continuing into early next week. A cause is an area of mainly upper level low pressure from the west coast of Florida to the Bahamas. Deep tropical moisture in this airmass continued along most of the Gulf coast to the Ozarks and southern Appalachians, with precipitable water amounts of 2 inches or greater. This deep moisture along with strong daytime heating (high temperatures so far into the upper 80s and lower 90s) have resulted in a rather unstable atmosphere. Boundary interaction has produced scattered to numerous showers and a few thunderstorms. As has been the case the past few days, areal convection has been largely initiated by strong daytime heating. Thus shower chances should wind down during the evening, and pick up in coverage and intensity --- mainly in the afternoon and early evening. For this evening, do have scattered shower/t-storm chances, with isolated or a slight chance for the late night. Scattered rain chances during Tue morning, should become more widespread coverage in the afternoon. For the forecast period, model soundings from the NAM/GFS over Huntsville maintain at least 2" precip water amounts during the length of each model (84 and 180 hours NAM/GFS) respectively. These amounts are close to 'maximum' levels per a soundings climatology data set posted on the SPC website. Precip water amounts from both models rise into the 2.5" range during some of the forecast period. As such, went with high chance to likely rain chances into the weekend in most afternoons. The stronger storms during periods of high precip water are most certainly capable of producing locally heavy rainfall and gusty winds. If a drier layer is present aloft and a storm can support sufficient icing, frequent lightning can also result. Weak steering currents in the mid/upper troposphere will also produce very slow to may be at times nearly stationary cell movement; enhancing rainfall rates over an area. The GFS, its ensembles and the ECMWF do hint that the main upper low or moisture maxima will move to the NW across the western portion of the region during the early weekend. What ever the case, total rainfall amounts into early next week could range from 3-6" over parts of our area during the forecast period. This will definitely put some dent or take care of a drought much of the area has been undergoing as of late. And despite a generally dry ground most spots, continued periods of more widespread and heavy rainfall could result in flooding and/or hydrological concerns the latter half of the week. RSB && .AVIATION... For 00Z TAFs: A sfc boundary south of the cwa and a 8h upper low over srn AL will keep the chc of shra/tsra at the taf sites thru arnd 02z before tapering off later this evening. There should be enough cloud cover tonight to keep widespread/dense fog from forming. By Tuesday aftn more sct shra/tsra will be possible due to daytime heating, an old cdfnt and an upper low over the region. Otherwise mainly vfr conditions thru the fcst period except for mvfr ceilings between 15z and 20z and in tsra. 007 && .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 414 PM CDT MON AUG 8 2016 ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-091200- LAUDERDALE-COLBERT-FRANKLIN AL-LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-MADISON-MORGAN- MARSHALL-JACKSON-DE KALB-CULLMAN-MOORE-LINCOLN-FRANKLIN TN- 414 PM CDT MON AUG 8 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT... SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE THIS EVENING BEFORE TAPERING OFF BY MIDNIGHT. SOME THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING HEAVY RAINFALL, GUSTY WINDS, AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING. SOME ISOLATED FLASH FLOODING IS POSSIBLE, ESPECIALLY IN LOCATIONS WHERE TRAINING OF THUNDERSTORMS OCCURS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY... A TROPICAL AIRMASS WILL REMAIN IN PLACE OVER THE AREA THROUGH THE WEEK...ALLOWING FOR SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS...MAINLY EACH AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF VERY HEAVY RAINFALL...GUSTY WINDS AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING. LOCALIZED FLOODING WILL CONTINUE TO BE A THREAT THROUGH THE END OF THIS WEEK. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME.
The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 65 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:20 UTC.
3 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Water covering the road at the intersection of Hughes Road and Eastview Drive in Madison.
Water covering the road at the intersection of Hardiman and Segers Roads in Madison. Water depth unknown.
Water covering the road at the intersection of Burgreen and Neyland Drive in Madison. Water depth unknown.
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: 655796, 655797, 655798.