During the passage of a strong cold front at the end of November, several waves of heavy rainfall traversed the region, with several instances of Flash Flooding occurring across the area.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
During the passage of a strong cold front at the end of November, several waves of heavy rainfall traversed the region, with several instances of Flash Flooding occurring across 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 Nov 29, 5:33 PM CST, 2 hours 47 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Huntsville AL 533 PM CST Tue Nov 29 2016 .UPDATE... For 00Z TAFS. && .NEAR TERM...(Tonight) Issued at 136 PM CST Tue Nov 29 2016 Latest surface analysis shows a low across the western Great Lakes with a trailing cold front extending through central Missouri through central Red River Valley. A stationary/warm front was situated generally south of I-20 across AL/MS. The airmass along and south of the warm front was quite juicy this afternoon with dewpoints well into the 60s. For tonight, the initial question is how quickly/how far north the warm front progresses. Given the limited convective activity along the gulf and southerly flow in place across the state, expect the airmass to recover by late afternoon/early evening. The HRRR continues to indicate isolated/scattered convective development within the warm sector between 00z-03z and this seems reasonable given little in the way of capping. Hodographs become a bit more favorable for sustained rotating cells within a (perhaps slow progressing) QLCS that will move across during the late evening and overnight hours. Unlike normal cool season events, if moisture does indeed recover as expected CAPE values should easily reach the 500-750 j/kg range ahead of this line. Given the combination of instability and sufficient shear, storms will certainly have to be monitored for at least a brief tornado threat. Based on the models trends toward more parallel (sw to ne) flow in the mid levels, have beefed up QPF just a touch. This is also in line with the latest projections from WPC. Temperatures will move very little tonight with most areas not seeing a true FROPA until 12z or thereafter. .SHORT TERM...(Wednesday through Thursday) Issued at 136 PM CST Tue Nov 29 2016 Convection, perhaps near-severe in sports or slowly diminishing, will still be ongoing across our eastern counties at 12z on Wednesday. The upper trough axis will push across by early afternoon ushering in the "cooler" air. Will taper pops from west to east and also temporally with all areas rain free by afternoon. Weak surface high will build across the region Wednesday night into Thursday with sunny and slightly below normal temperatures anticipated. .LONG TERM...(Thursday night through Monday) Issued at 136 PM CST Tue Nov 29 2016 Fairly strong cold air advection will continue to advect drier air into the area Thursday/Thursday night, via northwesterly flow. In addition, light winds will continue over the Tennessee Valley, as the surface high will not have moved much. This will allow for a very good radiational cooling event by Friday morning. It should allow lows to drop to near dewpoints to around 30 degrees. Temperatures should rebound to near normal highs during the day on Friday. Models all develop a more zonal flow aloft originating from Texas, as the high pressure remains over the area through Friday night. This will be in response to a cut-off low that develops over the southwestern U.S. This should keep highs and lows through Friday night near normal/slightly above normal (normal highs mid to upper 50s/normal lows mid to upper 30s). Models do advect deeper moisture eastward into the Tennessee Valley ahead of it Saturday through Sunday. How far north the deeper moisture gets and thus rainfall is the difference in the model forecasts. At this point, including a blend for the forecast. Saturday night through Sunday are keeping a 30 to 60 percent chance of rain in the forecast. This likely will be the best time for more widespread precipitation, but how much greatly depends on which model solution is correct. Early next week remains active, as the cut-off low kicks northeast along the jetstream into Arkansas and into Kentucky. There could be some stronger thunderstorm potential with this system, but too far off to address at this point. && .AVIATION...(For the 00Z TAFS through 00Z Wednesday evening) Issued at 525 PM CST Tue Nov 29 2016 A warm front will move north across the cwa tonight while a slow moving cold front will finally push across the TN valley by Wednesday aftn. This wx scenario will produce a good chc of shra and tsra over the taf sites tonight thru much of Wednesday mrng. The best chc of strong to severe tsra will be tonight. The shra and tsra activity will begin to taper off by Wednesday aftn. Otherwise vfr conditions until 02z...after 02z expect mainly ifr conditions thru 18z with vfr conditions after 81z. && .HUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AL...NONE. TN...NONE. && NEAR TERM...15 SHORT TERM...15 LONG TERM...KTW AVIATION...007 For more information please visit our website at weather.gov/huntsville.
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 704 PM CST TUE NOV 29 2016 ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-301200- LAUDERDALE-COLBERT-FRANKLIN AL-LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-MADISON-MORGAN- MARSHALL-JACKSON-DE KALB-CULLMAN-MOORE-LINCOLN-FRANKLIN TN- 704 PM CST TUE NOV 29 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT... STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE ACROSS THE TENNESSEE VALLEY THIS EVENING. THE PRIMARY THREATS WITH THESE STORMS WILL BE LARGE HAIL, DAMAGING WIND GUSTS, AND BRIEF TORNADOES. A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR LAUDERDALE...COLBERT AND FRANKLIN ALABAMA COUNTIES UNTIL 11 PM CST. THE REST OF NORTHERN ALABAMA AND OUR TENNESSEE COUNTIES HAS A TORNADO WATCH UNTIL MIDNIGHT. THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT WILL BEGIN TO DIMINISH SOMEWHAT AFTER MIDNIGHT...HOWEVER THE THREAT OF HEAVY RAIN WITH LOCALIZED FLASH FLOODING WILL BE POSSIBLE OVERNIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY... THUNDERSTORMS REMAIN POSSIBLE DURING THE MID TO LATE MORNING HOURS ON WEDNESDAY BUT MAINLY FOR THE EASTERN HALF OF THE AREA AS THE LINE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS EXITS TO OUR EAST. THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS STARTING SUNDAY NIGHT AND CONTINUING THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL IS IN PROGRESS.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
641 PM CST TUE NOV 29 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0638 PM HAIL RED BAY 34.44N 88.14W
11/29/2016 E0.88 INCH FRANKLIN AL EMERGENCY MNGR
NICKEL SIZED HAIL REPORTED IN RED BAY.
&&
KULAPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
804 PM CST TUE NOV 29 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0730 PM TSTM WND DMG 5 WNW LITTLEVILLE 34.62N 87.75W
11/29/2016 COLBERT AL EMERGENCY MNGR
NUMEROUS TREES AND POWERLINES DOWN ALONG UNDERWOOD
MOUNTAIN ROAD IN TUSCUMBIA. HOME DAMAGED AS WELL WITH TWO
INJURIES. POSSIBLE TORNADO. RELAYED BY COLBERT EOC.
&&The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 116 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:21 UTC.
4 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Two feet of water along Tennessee and Locust Roads in Florence. Intersection being closed. Person trapped in vehicle as well. Relayed by Florence Police Department.
Vehicles now trapped in the Walmart parking lot in Muscle Shoals due to rapidly rising water. No occupants are inside any of the vehicles. Relayed by Colbert EOC.
Four to five feet of water reported along the intersection of Tuscaloosa Street and Washington Avenue in Russellville.
Water covering the roadway at the intersection of 1st Street and 15th Avenue.
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, November 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: 668704, 668705, 668706, 668707.