A slow moving cluster of thunderstorms dropped south into northwest Alabama, including Lauderdale and Limestone Counties. Strong and gusty winds knocked at least one tree down.
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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 slow moving cluster of thunderstorms dropped south into northwest Alabama, including Lauderdale and Limestone Counties. Strong and gusty winds knocked at least one tree down. But more impressively, a narrow swath of 1.5 to 2.5 inches of rain fell in a short period of time in far eastern Lauderdale into southwest Limestone County. The intense rainfall resulted in several reports of flash flooding within about an hour of the rainfall.
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 Jul 18, 5:40 PM CST, 50 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Huntsville AL 640 PM CDT Thu Jul 18 2019 .UPDATE... For 00Z TAFS. && .NEAR TERM...(Tonight) Issued at 236 PM CDT Thu Jul 18 2019 Convection will taper off around 03Z leaving dry and mild conditions overnight. Overnight lows will be in the lower 70s and if cloud cover clears out more than anticipated, fog is possible, especially where there has been rainfall. .SHORT TERM...(Friday through Saturday Night) Issued at 236 PM CDT Thu Jul 18 2019 The quick summary of the short term can be described as hot and humid with diurnal convection. A ridge will continue to expand across the lower half of the CONUS tomorrow as a trough gets cut off in the OH Valley and retrogrades SW back into the TN Valley. This will provide some lift and additional moisture to develop mainly afternoon showers and thunderstorms with the highest chances E of I-65. Afternoon temps are expected to reach the lower 90s and with lingering dewpoints in the lower 70s and PWATS around 2", the heat index will rise to 100 degrees or higher. Some locations could reach heat advisory criteria of 105 or above. The ridge will weaken this weekend has a trough slides across the southern Canadian border. Low level moisture will increase, pushing PWATS over 2" and increasing cloud cover. Will also see an uptick in coverage of showers and thunderstorms. Daytime highs could be a tad higher but once again reach the lower 90s. These conditions will once again raise heat index values to 100 or above. Trends will be monitored to see if a Heat Advisory is needed for Friday and Saturday. .LONG TERM...(Sunday through Wednesday) Issued at 222 PM CDT Thu Jul 18 2019 Early next week, the upper-ridge will retrograde back to the west and amplify across the Southern Plains region. With most of the Tennessee Valley region under northwest flow aloft, slightly cooler weather (with good chances for rain) will exist early next week. A strong upper-low across Southern Canada will send a strong impulse and it's associated cold front through the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley region on early Sunday. This boundary will initiate a potentially robust line of convection that will drop south and east into the Ohio Valley Sunday evening/night. Under this regime, this storm complex and associated cold front could make it into North Alabama sometime on Monday, bringing an increased potential for numerous/widespread showers and storms. It's too early to speculate with much detail about this system, but the threat for more organized storms may exist with this boundary given the stronger nature of this frontal system. The latest model guidance is coming in more agreement that this front will not only make it into the region, but plow well south into the Northern Gulf Coast -- pretty astonishing for the middle of Summer. This would result in a cooler air mass moving into the region (relatively speaking), knocking highs back into the mid 80s for Tuesday and the low to mid 80s for Wednesday. This would be up to 10 degrees below normal for this time of year in some locations! Despite the cooler air mass, the humidity will be there -- resulting in scattered convection on Tuesday and more isolated activity by Wednesday. && .AVIATION...(For the 00Z TAFS through 00Z Friday evening) Issued at 640 PM CDT Thu Jul 18 2019 Lingering areas of shra/tsra continue across parts of the area going into the evening hrs this Thu. Some of this activity may impact the two main terminals over the next few hrs before diminishing later this evening with the loss of daytime heating. Brief reductions in cigs/vis are possible with any shra/tsra. With just some mid/high clouds in place across the area, VFR conds are then generally xpcted well into the daytime period Fri. Iso shra/tsra are again xpcted later in the day Fri, although the prob is fairly low attm. && .HUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AL...Heat Advisory until 7 PM CDT this evening for ALZ001>007. TN...NONE. && NEAR TERM...JMS SHORT TERM...JMS LONG TERM...AMP.24 AVIATION...09 For more information please visit our website at weather.gov/huntsville.
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Huntsville AL 225 PM CDT Thu Jul 18 2019 ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-191030- Lauderdale-Colbert-Franklin AL-Lawrence-Limestone-Madison-Morgan- Marshall-Jackson-DeKalb-Cullman-Moore-Lincoln-Franklin TN- 225 PM CDT Thu Jul 18 2019 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for north Alabama and portions of southern middle Tennessee. .DAY ONE...This Afternoon through Tonight... The combination of temperatures in the low to mid 90s and high relative humidity values will create Heat Index values in excess of 105 degrees across portions of Northwest Alabama and North Central Alabama. A Heat Advisory is in effect from Noon to 7 PM CDT. Additionally, isolated to widely scattered thunderstorms will be possible, mainly this afternoon into early evening. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Friday through Wednesday... Heat concerns will exist Friday and Saturday across the Tennessee Valley. Daytime highs will peak in the mid 90s, with maximum heat indices climbing into the 102 to 107 degree range for some locations. Additional Heat Advisory products may be needed late this week. Scattered thunderstorms also remain possible mainly during the afternoon and early evening Friday and Saturday. A frontal boundary approaching the region from the northwest may bring slightly higher chances for thunderstorms Sunday through Tuesday. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... Activation of storm spotters and emergency management personnel is not anticipated at this time.
Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Huntsville AL
527 PM CDT Thu Jul 18 2019
ALZ006-182315-
Madison AL-
527 PM CDT Thu Jul 18 2019
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR CENTRAL MADISON COUNTY UNTIL 615
PM CDT...
At 527 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm over
northern Huntsville, moving southeast at 20 mph.
Pea size hail and winds in excess of 30 mph will be possible with
this storm.
Locations impacted include...
Huntsville, Moores Mill, Meridianville, Hazel Green, Owens Cross
Roads, Gurley, Alabama A And M University, University Of Alabama In
Huntsville, Harvest and Maysville.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Frequent cloud to ground lightning is occurring with this storm.
Lightning can strike several miles away from a thunderstorm. Seek a
safe shelter inside a building or vehicle.
&&
LAT...LON 3483 8633 3481 8635 3479 8633 3479 8634
3474 8634 3473 8636 3472 8636 3460 8644
3479 8676 3493 8665
TIME...MOT...LOC 2227Z 295DEG 17KT 3480 8660
25Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Huntsville AL
554 PM CDT Thu Jul 18 2019
ALZ006-009-182345-
Madison AL-Jackson AL-
554 PM CDT Thu Jul 18 2019
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR NORTHWESTERN JACKSON AND
NORTHEASTERN MADISON COUNTIES UNTIL 645 PM CDT...
At 554 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm near
New Market, or 7 miles east of Moores Mill, moving east at 20 mph.
Wind gusts up to 50 mph will be possible with this storm.
Locations impacted include...
Moores Mill, Skyline, New Market, Pleasant Groves, Hytop, Maysville,
Princeton, Plevna, Jericho and Estillfork.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Strong gusty winds will be capable of knocking down small tree limbs
along with other small unsecured items. Seek safe shelter until this
storm has passed.
Frequent cloud to ground lightning is occurring with this storm.
Lightning can strike several miles away from a thunderstorm. Seek a
safe shelter inside a building or vehicle.
&&
LAT...LON 3474 8603 3473 8652 3495 8653 3499 8625
3499 8607
TIME...MOT...LOC 2254Z 266DEG 16KT 3487 8638
25The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 114 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:30 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A tree was knocked down along CR 50 at CR 51 near Anderson.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alabama in 2019Every state in 2019This day in weather historyWarnings in Alabama, July 2019
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: 842179.