As Tropical Cyclone Cindy moved onshore along the Texas and Louisiana state line, feeder bands on the east side of Cindy developed over central Alabama. The feeder bands produced several modes of severe weather, including tornadoes, straight line winds, and flash flooding.
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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 BMX wrote it up.
As Tropical Cyclone Cindy moved onshore along the Texas and Louisiana state line, feeder bands on the east side of Cindy developed over central Alabama. The feeder bands produced several modes of severe weather, including tornadoes, straight line winds, and flash flooding.
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 Birmingham, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 22, 2:40 AM CST, 1 hour 20 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Birmingham AL 340 AM CDT Thu Jun 22 2017 .SHORT TERM... Today and Tonight. Currently watching several waves of rainfall moving through the area the morning. Heaviest rains are along and north of I-22/I-20 and along I-65. Also watching the next band of rainfall developing just south of Greenville and moving northward. There will be a brief lull in the SW with only isolated to scattered showers as a dry slot works into the area but that will go ahead by 7 AM and the area will fill back in. Thus will keep the flash flood watch for this area. SPC has also put the southern tier of counties in a tornado watch as this band moves into the region. We have been monitoring the over trends and see no reason to not agree with this assessment. The main tornado threat for the day will be for counties along and west of the I-65 corridor as the bands develop and slide north through the area. As we work into the evening hours we will see the bands begin to diminish in size and intensity as most of the activity will shift further west closer the center of Cindy. This may provide another little lull in activity across much of Alabama through the night. With that said though any banding that does develop could produce locally heavy rains. 16 .LONG TERM... As we work into Friday, we will see the second stage of this tropical system begin to impact the area. The low pressure system itself will move into western Tennessee and then slide east northeast and begin to merge with a cold front. As the low gets closer to the area we will see an increase in showers and storms once again, this time along and north of the I-20 corridor. We may need to issue a new flash flood watch as this system draws closer. Despite that there will also be a threat for tornadoes with any line that develops and moves through the area particularly in the afternoon and into the evening hours. By Saturday, Cindy will have merged with a cold front coming down from the north and be well removed from the area. However, the front, the continued moist air mass, and a lingering weakness in the subtropical ridge will result in a continued wet pattern through the weekend, with the potential for continued flooding concerns. As is typical, the GFS is quicker with the progression of the front than the ECMWF and will stick closer to the slower solution. But by Monday/Monday night the cold front is expected to pass through the area as a trough amplifies over the East Coast. A second cold front will move through and provide a cool airmass for this time of the year for the upcoming week. 16 && .AVIATION... 06Z TAF Discussion. Continued the trend of the previous release. It appears there will still be tropical bands that develop overnight and move into Central Alabama. The trend of chaotic skies continue but will have a mix of prevailing and tempo for IFR ceilings becoming MVFR much of the daylight period on Thursday. Tropical System Cindy will affect Central Alabama the next 24 hours and keep weather conditions rather chaotic and restricted at times. Do not think the actual conditions will be IFR at all times and attempted to add in this variability. Additionally, it will not be raining at all places at all times, but will be hard to pin point. Even though Cindy's center was off the western Louisiana Coast this evening, rain bands from this system were rotating into Central Alabama. These bands will continue on and off the next few days. There will be periods of IFR, but I decided to go with a 24 hour predominant MVFR ceiling around 012. The one issue will be that we are located north of a coast front. Our winds were east southeast and winds up off the surface were south and southeast. Therefore, there is some lift over this front and also good isentropic lift in an nearly saturated environment. Will monitor the ceiling restrictions closely if they need to be lowered, especially for a longer period of time. Thunder is a possibility at times, but pin pointing its timing is too iffy for any mention at this time. Lastly, winds just above the surface increase overnight into the 40-45kt range around 020. Since I lowered the overall winds and gust overnight, we will now be into the LLWS area and have added to all but ASN/ANB at some point before 13z. 75 && .FIRE WEATHER... Scattered to widespread showers and storms are expected through the next several days with a moist airmass in place. The best chance of rain will occur Thursday and Friday. A cold front will then swing into the area for the weekend adding in more rain chances through Sunday. Drier are will work into the area on Monday and Tuesday. There are no fire weather concerns. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Gadsden 78 72 85 72 84 / 100 70 70 80 60 Anniston 78 72 87 72 84 / 90 70 50 80 70 Birmingham 79 74 86 73 84 / 100 80 70 80 60 Tuscaloosa 81 74 86 73 84 / 100 80 80 80 60 Calera 79 73 86 73 84 / 100 80 60 80 70 Auburn 81 72 87 73 84 / 80 30 20 50 70 Montgomery 82 75 90 75 87 / 100 60 30 50 70 Troy 83 73 88 74 87 / 90 40 20 40 70 && .BMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES/... Flash Flood Watch through this evening for the following counties: Autauga...Bibb...Bullock...Chilton...Coosa...Dallas... Elmore...Fayette...Greene...Hale...Jefferson...Lamar...Lowndes... Macon...Marengo...Marion...Montgomery...Perry...Pickens...Pike... Shelby...Sumter...Tuscaloosa...Walker. &&
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Birmingham AL 500 AM CDT Thu Jun 22 2017 ALZ011>015-017>050-231300- Marion-Lamar-Fayette-Winston-Walker-Blount-Etowah-Calhoun-Cherokee- Cleburne-Pickens-Tuscaloosa-Jefferson-Shelby-St. Clair-Talladega- Clay-Randolph-Sumter-Greene-Hale-Perry-Bibb-Chilton-Coosa-Tallapoosa- Chambers-Marengo-Dallas-Autauga-Lowndes-Elmore-Montgomery-Macon- Bullock-Lee-Russell-Pike-Barbour- 500 AM CDT Thu Jun 22 2017 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for the counties served by the National Weather Service office in Birmingham. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight. Widespread rainfall will continue across Central Alabama due to a tropical air mass in place east of Tropical Storm Cindy. Flash flooding will be possible mainly along and south of a Hamilton to Jasper to Wetumpka to Troy line due to rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches with locally higher amounts. There is a threat for brief tornadoes through 7 PM as the center of Tropical Storm Cindy tracks west of the area. The best chances will be generally along and west of Interstate 65, however, all areas in Central Alabama may be impacted. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Friday through Wednesday. There is a threat for brief tornadoes and isolated damaging wind gusts on Friday as well. The main window on Friday will be during the afternoon and evening hours on Friday across northern portions of Central Alabama. A risk of flash flooding will continue Friday, primarily across the western half of Central Alabama. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Activation of storm spotters and emergency management may be needed now through Friday due to the multiple threats across the area.
The Maxwell AFB radar (KMXX), 79 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 10:01 UTC.
17 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Several roads flooded in northeast Lowndes County between the cities of Lowndesboro and Hayneville.
NWS Meteorologists surveyed damage in western Jefferson County and found that the damage was consistent with an EF1 tornado, with maximum sustained winds near 110 mph. There were three separate notable increases in damage severity and/or density, likely indicating that the funnel had a skipping/cycling characteristic as it swayed from less to more intense.
The tornado touched down along 5th Street North, between Highway 11 and Avenue A, where damage ranged from broken large limbs to uprooted and snapped trees. The tornado then traveled northeast with a long swath of damage centered along a track generally between Interstate 20/59 and Highway 11. Aside from continued uprooting of trees and downing of limbs, the first notable damage occurred just west of Western Hills Mall, where there was hefty damage to an Express Oil Change, Alabama ABC store, and mini strip mall, along Dr. M.L.K. Boulevard. Damage at this location was likely the result of a short-lived, concentrated vortex, with a track around 300 yards in length and EF1 intensity. Beyond this point, damage fell into EF0 range.
The tornado continued knocking down trees as it moved northeast, with some trees falling onto homes, resulting in severe roof damage. Tornadic winds also caused minor to moderate roof damage ranging from missing shingles to sections of roof damaged or blown off, especially in neighborhoods adjacent to Miles College (to the south and northeast). Given a noticeable increase in damage density, it is possible that the tornado briefly intensified in this area, over the course of roughly a 700 yard path. While there was an obvious increase in the amount of uprooted trees, there was a large contribution from shallow root systems and especially saturated soil conditions; thus, given a lack of notable wind-driven damage to homes (which held in EF0, characteristic of shingle and roof trim damage), the overall damage pattern did not tip the scale for a small corridor of EF1 rating.
Next, the tornado neared and crossed Interstate 20/59 where the extent of damage backed off, though some minor structural damage done to the Tire Tech car bay, and Freeway Honda. Windows were also blown out of a few cars at the Honda dealership. An increase in the number of uprooted trees was again observed surrounding Tuxedo Park on the north side of Interstate 20/59, along with roof damage to a few homes. Tornado damage became very sporadic and increasingly less significant as the tornado neared Bankhead Highway, dissipating near the CSX Transportation railways adjacent to Pratt Highway.
Several trees uprooted along Alliance Road.
NWS Meteorologists surveyed damage in western Shelby County and found damage consistent with an EF0 tornado, with maximum sustained winds near 70 mph. The tornado touched down along a gravel road off of County Road 10. The tornado was short-lived and produced a very brief path of uprooted and snapped trees. An on-duty mine guard sitting immediately adjacent to the damage path witnessed a sudden increase in winds, near-zero visibility, and popping of his ears.
Several trees uprooted near Highway 17 at the Vernon Post Office.
Several trees uprooted along County Road 10 near the Mount Willing Church.
Several trees uprooted at the intersection of Stowe Loop Road and County Road 35.
Several trees uprooted at the intersection of Sherwood Place Road and Dime Road.
Several trees uprooted and power lines downed in the town of Lynn.
Several trees uprooted and power lines downed in the city of Double Springs.
Several trees uprooted and power lines downed in city of Ashville.
Several trees uprooted near the intersection of County Road 71 and County Road 19.
Several trees uprooted along County Road 44.
Numerous trees uprooted and snapped.
Trees uprooted and power lines downed at the intersection of County Road 31 and County Road 22.
Several trees uprooted near the intersection of County 71 and County Road 38.
Several trees uprooted and power lines downed at County Road 22 and County Road 531.
Several trees uprooted along County Road 124.
Several trees uprooted on Greensport Road.
Several trees uprooted and power lines downed on Oak Grove Road.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alabama in 2017Every state in 2017This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Alabama, 2017Warnings in Alabama, June 2017
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: 708135, 708137, 708138, 708139, 709601, 709602, 709603, 709604, 709605, 709606, 709607, 709608, 709610, 709613, 709614, 709615, 709616, 709617, 709618, 709619.