A strong cold front moved southeast through the Tennessee valley region on March 1st, with a severe storm forming and producing isolated wind damage in northwest Alabama.
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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 strong cold front moved southeast through the Tennessee valley region on March 1st, with a severe storm forming and producing isolated wind damage in northwest Alabama.
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 Mar 1, 11:23 AM CST, 32 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 1123 AM CST TUE MAR 1 2016 .UPDATE... FOR 18Z TAFS && .DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 1100 AM CST TUE MAR 1 2016/ SCATTERED SHOWERS THAT AFFECTED PORTIONS OF THE AREA HAVE MOVED OUT OF NE AL AND THE TN VALLEY IS DRY AT THE MOMENT. WIND AND WIND GUSTS HAVE STARTED TO PICK UP AHEAD OF A LINE OF CONVECTION CURRENTLY ON THE DOORSTEP OF NW AL WITH GUSTS UP TO 20-25 MPH BEING OBSERVED. THE LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS CURRENTLY TO OUR WEST WILL MOVE INTO NW AL WITHIN THE HOUR AND PROGRESS EASTWARD THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. AHEAD OF THIS LINE...CLOUD COVER WILL LINGER LIMITING SURFACE TEMPS...WHICH ARE IN THE LOW TO MID 60S...AS OF 16Z. THE CLOUD COVER WILL ALSO LIMIT BOUNDARY LAYER MIXING AND DEWPOINTS HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO RISE A FEW MORE DEGREES INTO THE MID/UPPER 50S. ITS BEEN FAIRLY STABLE THIS MORNING...HOWEVER FORECAST SOUNDINGS SHOW THE CAP THAT IS CURRENTLY IN PLACE ERODING THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. EVEN WITH THE SOUNDINGS ERODING THE CAP /WHICH LINES UP WITH CURRENT RADAR TRENDS/ INSTABILITY MAY STILL BE WEAK...EXCEPT IN A NARROW AREA JUST AHEAD OF THE FRONT. ADDITIONALLY...0-3 KM SHEAR VALUES ARE IN THE 40S AND LAPSE RATES DO STEEPEN WHICH WILL ENHANCE THE LIFT ACROSS THE AREA. WHILE WIND SHEAR IS HIGH...VERTICAL WIND PROFILE IS MAINLY UNIDIRECTIONAL. WITH ALL OF THIS...OUR MAIN HAZARDS GOING INTO THIS AFTERNOON WILL BE DAMAGING WINDS AND A MORE ISOLATED THREAT FOR LARGE HAIL. AS IS TYPICAL WITH A QLCS...CANNOT RULE OUT AN ISOLATED TORNADO...HOWEVER THE THREAT IS LOW. FLASH FLOODING IS ALSO A LOW END THREAT...AS THE LINE WILL MOVE QUICKLY ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA. JMS && .AVIATION... FOR 18Z TAFS...EXPECT THE LINE OF SHRA/TSRA TO MOVE THROUGH THE MSL AREA BETWEEN 18Z-20Z AND INTO THE HSV TERMINAL AREA BY 19Z. HAVE KEPT CEILINGS CLOSE TO MVFR RANGE WITH LIMITING VISIBILITIES DUE TO HEAVY RAINFALL TO AROUND 2 MILES IN THE MVFR RANGE THROUGH 20Z AT MSL AND 21Z AT HSV. EXPECT SOME LOWER CLOUDS AT OR SLIGHTLY BELOW 2KFT AT HSV AND MSL FROM 20Z-07Z TIME FRAME. VFR CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED AT BOTH MSL AND MSL AFTER 07Z. TT && .HUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AL...NONE. TN...NONE. && FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WEATHER.GOV/HUNTSVILLE.
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 911 AM CST TUE MAR 1 2016 ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-021100- LAUDERDALE-COLBERT-FRANKLIN AL-LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-MADISON-MORGAN- MARSHALL-JACKSON-DEKALB-CULLMAN-MOORE-LINCOLN-FRANKLIN TN- 911 AM CST TUE MAR 1 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON AND INTO EARLY EVENING IN ADVANCE OF AND ALONG A COLD FRONT AS IT MOVES RAPIDLY EASTWARD ACROSS THE REGION. THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER WITH THE PRIMARY HAZARD BEING DAMAGING WINDS WITH A LESSER THREAT OF LARGE HAIL. IN ADDITION...BREEZY CONDITIONS ARE ANTICIPATED IN ADVANCE OF THE COLD FRONT THIS AFTERNOON. SOUTHWEST WINDS OF 15 TO 25 MPH MAY GUST AT 30 MPH AT TIMES...ESPECIALLY ATOP THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS. BEHIND THE FRONT...NORTH WINDS MAY ALSO BECOME GUSTY AT TIMES TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL IS POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. TT
The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 117 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:52 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A few trees were downed by thunderstorm winds.
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, March 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: 622522.