Widespread heavy rainfall impacted the area from February 28th through the 1st of March, with lingering flooding conditions lasting the better part of 7 days. Rainfall totals of 4 to 6 inches fell across much of the area, leading to areal and river flooding.
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.
Widespread heavy rainfall impacted the area from February 28th through the 1st of March, with lingering flooding conditions lasting the better part of 7 days. Rainfall totals of 4 to 6 inches fell across much of the area, leading to areal and river flooding. All of the WFO Huntsville HSA river forecast points had some type of product out for them during this event. To date, that's only happened one or two other times in the office's history.
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 Feb 28, 8:29 AM CST, 1 minute earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED National Weather Service Huntsville AL 829 AM CST Wed Feb 28 2018 .NEAR TERM...(Rest of Today) Issued at 820 AM CST Wed Feb 28 2018 The first wave of rainfall associated with elevated theta-e advection aloft has shifted into southern middle TN and far north AL. Rain has ended from near Bear Creek to south of Guntersville. This trend should hold for a few more hours with possible redevelopment later this afternoon. We will be monitoring the model trends showing a batch of dry air aloft/lower PWs that is advected into southern and central MS/AL this afternoon and tonight. How far north this advects into the TN valley will have a large impact on rainfall/flooding considerations for our area by tonight. The hi-res short range guidance indicates that redevelopment of showers and thunderstorms will occur along the 850 mb warm front which will lie near the AL/TN border. The NAM/NSSLWRF/localWRF all indicate this band to set up in southwest into middle TN, just clipping our TN and far northwest AL counties, as the warm sector lifts northward through the area. The GFS is trending a bit more this way, but still has the band more fully over north AL. For now, will only make near term PoP adjustments to account for the current radar trends. This will lower PoP today in our southern counties of north Alabama. .SHORT TERM...(Tonight through Friday Night) Issued at 300 AM CST Wed Feb 28 2018 The forecast challenge in the short term is where the boundary will set up and therefore, where the axis of heavy rain will be. Outside the discussion on the boundary, the other environmental factors for heavy rain are in place, especially the PW values increasing to near 1.5 inches by 00z tonight and even a little higher overnight. In perspective, the average for this time of year is around 0.5 inch and 1.5 is near the daily max per the SPC sounding climatology. Another and slightly stronger LLJ will be developing after 00-03z, which will help to enhance the rainfall over the local area. In terms of boundary placement, the GFS/ECMWf and the GEFS members are in relatively good agreement on keeping the boundary and the precip along the TN/AL border although the bullseye of the highest QPF is in N MS, maybe far NW AL. GFS is forecasting almost 7 inches of rain (probably a little TOO high) in NW AL with the ECMWF around 4 inches. The NAM remains the outlier with pushing the boundary north this afternoon and then mostly dry until the cold front Thursday afternoon. Even if the NAM verifies, it still gives the AL/TN border around 3 inches which in this situation, would still cause some flooding issues. Hires guidance is split but generally favors a slight northern shift than this time the night before. One thing is for sure, there is going to be a tight north to south QPF gradient with areas around Cullman County and maybe even Dekalb seeing much less rain. Given the model consensus and WPC's excessive rainfall outlook, will continue the forecast of the boundary right on the AL/TN border with POPs increasing again to widespread by 00z Thursday through 12z. Then the POPs were cut back in the eastern areas as the warm front lifts north, giving a slight break in widespread rainfall. The cold front will then follow and should be through NW AL around 15-18z and out of NE Al by 00z Friday. With such a weak upper system though, the precip with the front may linger a little past 00z in a few areas before quickly clearing out with drier and cooler air in its wake. There isn't much of an argument for thunder tonight through Thursday but given the strength of the lift and the shear, can't rule out a few storms and will keep the slight chance in the forecast. An additional 2-3 inches of rainfall are therefore possible tonight through Thursday. Will not be making any changes to the Flood Watch with a total of 2-4 inches possible, isolated higher amounts are likely. Although incidences of Flash Flooding are certainly possible in thunderstorms that occur, it looks like a few rivers are already forecast to go into flood and areal flooding is also looking likely. It will also be quite windy on Thursday with the combo of the 40-50kt LLJ and the tightening pressure gradient. Gusts up to 30mph are certainly possible. Highs on Thursday will remain in the lower 60s with the warm advection but drop to the middle to upper 50s Friday behind the front. Lows tonight remain mild around 60 but drop drastically for Thu night with lows in the upper 30s and even lower Friday night, near freezing. .LONG TERM...(Saturday through Tuesday) Issued at 438 AM CST Wed Feb 28 2018 Northwest flow aloft will exist across the local area this weekend, as the region will remain to the east of an amplified 500-mb ridge forecast to migrate slowly eastward across the MS Valley. At the surface, the southern extent of a cold/dry arctic airmass across central Canada will maintain a presence across much of the southern CONUS, with light northeast flow and weak cold advection expected to continue on Saturday--keeping temps in the m/u 50s. Conditions appear favorable for strong radiational cooling on Saturday night, with a light frost possible for most of the region. Temperatures will rebound into the m60s on Sunday afternoon as the cold advection subsides, although radiational cooling early Sunday evening should allow temps to fall into u30s/l40s before the onset of stronger southerly flow/cloud cover before sunrise. Mid-level winds are forecast to back to the west-southwest and strengthen considerably during the period from Monday-Tuesday as a deepening northern stream trough closes off into a low and tracks eastward into the Great Lakes. A cold front attached to the systems occluding surface cyclone is expected to push southeastward across the forecast area on Monday night, and although a few showers will be possible as early as Monday afternoon the greatest coverage should occur on Monday night. It appears as if the strongest synoptic scale ascent related to the parent trough will bypass our region to the north, and based on this as well the potential for very limited northward return of moisture, we have lowered POPs into the high chance range. Another cool/dry airmass will spread into the region in the wake of the front on Tuesday. && .AVIATION...(For the 12Z TAFS through 12Z Thursday morning) Issued at 518 AM CST Wed Feb 28 2018 CIGS will be tricky today and will likely fluctuate depending if it is raining or not. KMSL just went to BKN008 once the rain stopped but was hovering at BKN020 while it rained. It's back up again now that rain started. The rain today will not be too widespread so CIGS may sit in the IFR range for the majority of the time. Did bring CIGS back to around 1000ft late today when more widespread rain will move in which will continue through the end of the TAF period. VIS values will also drop in rain, probably to 3SM or less, and rise when the rain stops and CIGS drop. Winds will be breezy today, around 10-15kt with an occasional gust to 20kts. These will diminish overnight and increase again by the end of the TAF period. && .HUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AL...Flood Watch through Thursday afternoon for ALZ001>010-016. TN...Flood Watch through Thursday afternoon for TNZ076-096-097. && NEAR TERM...17 SHORT TERM...LN LONG TERM...70/DD AVIATION...LN For more information please visit our website at weather.gov/huntsville.
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Huntsville AL 408 AM CST Wed Feb 28 2018 ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-010115- Lauderdale-Colbert-Franklin AL-Lawrence-Limestone-Madison-Morgan- Marshall-Jackson-De Kalb-Cullman-Moore-Lincoln-Franklin TN- 408 AM CST Wed Feb 28 2018 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for north Alabama and portions of southern middle Tennessee. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight... Widespread rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches are expected today and tonight with locally higher amounts possible. Given the saturated conditions across the area, river and areal flooding and isolated instances of flash flooding are possible. A Flood Watch is in effect through Thursday. Isolated thunderstorms are also possible. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Thursday through Tuesday... An additional 0.5 to 1 inch of rainfall is possible on Thursday with the passage of a cold front. This leads to storm total rainfall amounts of 2 to 5 inches. River and areal flooding may linger into the weekend with this amount of rain. The Flood Watch continues through Thursday. Isolated thunderstorms are also possible on Thursday. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... Limited activation of storm spotters and emergency management personnel is possible today through Thursday for flooding.
The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 119 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 14:28 UTC.
13 flood, 5 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
CR 112 closed at this location due to flooding.
Corrects previous flood report from 7W Underwood-Petersville. County Roads 112 and 81 closed due to high water.
CR 81 closed at this location due to flooding.
CR 298 was closed due to flooding at this location.
County Road 139 was closed due to flooding.
CR 485 was closed at this location due to flooding.
Levert Avenue south of Hwy72 closed due to 6-8 inches of water covering the roadway near Commercial Drive.
About 6 to 8 inches of water covering Hwy 65 near the 11-mile marker. Tree limbs and debris also in floodwaters from the Paint Rock Rover covering the road.
About a foot of water over U.S. Hwy 40 near Happy Home Baptist Church.
About a foot of water over Tupelo Pike near Center Point Baptist Church.
Around a foot of water across CR229.
Two feet of water reported over CR 36 in the 1200 block.
Over a foot of water covering CR 11 in a few spots between Highways 72 and 35.
Over a foot of water covering CR 8 in the Nat Mountain Community. Road is barricaded and closed at this time.
CR42 between Houston Branch and Roach Cove near CR560 is barricaded due to flooding.
About a foot of water covering CR92 in several places between Davis Drive and Highway 71.
Over a foot of water covering CR53 in the Rash Community.
Estimate of 14 inches of water flowing over Hwy 65 at MM11 near Mt. Nebo Baptist Church.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alabama in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyWarnings in Alabama, February 2018
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: 738472, 738473, 738474, 738475, 738476, 738477, 738478, 738479, 738480, 738481, 738482, 738483, 738466, 738467, 738468, 738470, 738471, 738484.