The worst drought conditions are ongoing since the last major drought in 2007. With no appreciable rainfall in sight, conditions will further deteriorate, with the dry conditions complicating several factors, mainly that of farming and water conservation in the near future.
Every event with a place to put it; 5 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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.
The worst drought conditions are ongoing since the last major drought in 2007. With no appreciable rainfall in sight, conditions will further deteriorate, with the dry conditions complicating several factors, mainly that of farming and water conservation in the near future.
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 Oct 24, 11:07 PM CST, 53 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Huntsville AL 1207 AM CDT Tue Oct 25 2016 .UPDATE... For 06Z TAFS. && .NEAR TERM...(Tonight) Issued at 840 PM CDT Mon Oct 24 2016 A weak cold front is draped across the area from west to east just south of the AL/TN border. This frontal boundary will continue to drop south this evening. While surface winds have decoupled, VAD wind profiler from KHTX is showing 10-15kt winds out of the N/NE. These winds will help to advect some drier and slightly cooler air into the region. Dewpoints are about 5 to 10 degrees above yesterdays values at this time but should wind up near what we had yesterday evening/overnight. With clear skies forecast tonight, expecting slightly better radiational cooling and nudged temps down a degree or two in the cooler locations of the area. Lows overnight will be in the low to mid 40s with a few locations in our TN counties dipping below the 40 degree mark. Will monitor the trends to see if another update is needed. .SHORT TERM...(Tuesday through Wednesday) Issued at 310 PM CDT Mon Oct 24 2016 Winds should veer quickly to the southeast on Tuesday. A rather large diurnal rise in temps is expected again with 850 mb temps of 15-16C equating to potential highs well into the 80s. We will go closer to the warmer NAM values in the l-m80s. Southerly flow Tuesday Night should allow warm advection to offset radiational cooling a bit more. So going with lows slightly above guidance in the west, but going a bit cooler than guidance in our typical drainage cooling valleys in our east. Wednesday should be another warm one, although MOS is dropping back max temps a bit due to abundant ci/cs indicated in the models. I'm the skeptic and will go on the warm side again given a combination of several ongoing factors including increasing southwest flow, dry soils, and persistence forecast. .LONG TERM...(Wednesday night through Sunday) Issued at 310 PM CDT Mon Oct 24 2016 An upper level disturbance will continue to move eastward from Missouri and the central Great Lakes region towards the Tennessee Valley on Wednesday morning. The southern extent of the energy with this system will remain over Tennessee northward into Illinois through Wednesday afternoon. However, low level (especially 925 mb winds) will strengthen significantly Wednesday night into Thursday morning, as the upper level disturbance pushes through northern Alabama. At this point, although wet-bulb temperatures lower significantly, surface based instability is too meager for more than isolated showers/thunderstorms. Not expecting any stronger storms Wednesday night given nominal shear and weak instability. The big question is how much shower/thunderstorm activity we have on Thursday. Synoptic models show that the surface front associated with this disturbance hangs back a bit further west of the upper level trough axis. These models continue to forecast around 1500 J/kg (NAM even more) developing during the morning and early afternoon hours on Thursday. The lagging of the surface front puts it somewhere over northeastern Alabama. Given very low wet-bulb temperatures ~ 7500 ft, if convection occurs some strong storms could develop if they can overcome a developing CAP aloft just above 700 mb. The main threat with these would be small hail. Winds may need to be raised on future shifts for Wednesday night into Thursday due to the strength of the 925 mb jet. Although, some drier and cooler air will move into the area via northwesterly flow, there is not strong colder air advection that occurs over the area Friday into Saturday. Temperatures should drop off behind the front back into the upper 70s to lower 80s as a result. Models hint at another dry front approaching the area over the weekend, but are in fairly large disagreement about the strength of low level cold air advection with this feature. Thus went with Superblend for Saturday night into Monday. && .AVIATION...(For the 06Z TAFS through 06Z Tuesday night) Issued at 1207 AM CDT Tue Oct 25 2016 VFR conditions are forecast through the period. A weak frontal boundary is pushing south through the area and winds will favor a northerly direction with speeds remaining below 5kts. By late Tuesday morning winds become more easterly. && .HUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AL...NONE. TN...NONE. && NEAR TERM...Stumpf SHORT TERM...17 LONG TERM...KTW AVIATION...Stumpf For more information please visit our website at weather.gov/huntsville.
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 320 PM CDT MON OCT 24 2016 ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-251100- LAUDERDALE-COLBERT-FRANKLIN AL-LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-MADISON-MORGAN- MARSHALL-JACKSON-DE KALB-CULLMAN-MOORE-LINCOLN-FRANKLIN TN- 320 PM CDT MON OCT 24 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY... LOW THUNDERSTORM CHANCES RETURN WEDNESDAY NIGHT AS A WEAK COLD FRONT APPROACHES FROM THE WEST. LINGERING STORMS ALONG AND EAST OF THE INTERSTATE 65 CORRIDOR WILL THEN TAPER OFF DURING THE DAY THURSDAY AS THE FRONT EXITS THE AREA TO THE EAST. A FEW STRONG STORMS CAPABLE OF SMALL HAIL ARE POSSIBLE LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT INTO THURSDAY. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
5 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Extreme Drought (D3) Conditions present in Colbert County.
Extreme Drought (D3) Conditions present in Franklin County.
Extreme Drought (D3) Conditions present in Limestone County.
Extreme Drought (D3) Conditions present in Lawrence County.
Extreme Drought (D3) Conditions present in Cullman County.
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, October 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: 660227, 660228, 660229, 660230, 660231.