Gusty south winds developed ahead of a cold front and approaching line of thunderstorms. The winds knocked down at least one tree in Colbert County in northwest Alabama.
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The episode as NWS HUN wrote it up.
Gusty south winds developed ahead of a cold front and approaching line of thunderstorms. The winds knocked down at least one tree in Colbert County in northwest Alabama.
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 Jan 18, 6:25 PM CST, 35 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Huntsville AL 625 PM CST Wed Jan 18 2023 ...New AVIATION... .NEAR TERM... (Tonight) Issued at 335 PM CST Wed Jan 18 2023 A brief break in cloud cover allowed temperatures in some locations to climb into the upper 60s/lower 70s. Since then cloud cover has redeveloped over much of the area. A few light showers developed earlier as the warm front pushed north and now is currently over central Tennessee. The earlier fog and cloud cover through the day has keep us pretty stable. That being said, there is just a tad of instability and plenty of shear. However, a strong cap is in place between 850 mb and 700 mb and any additional forcing south of this warm front is extremely weak. Could see a few isolated to scattered showers this afternoon into the early evening hours, but the afore-mentioned factors will work against any strong to severe thunderstorms from developing. As deeper and stronger forcing along the approaching frontal boundary approaches the area around 10 PM, there might be just enough surface based instability to produce strong to severe thunderstorms. However, most guidance shows no instability and extremely minimal elevated instability (<300 J/KG). So overall threat for a few severe storms has lessened significantly, but still cannot rule that out in portions of northwest Alabama. Main threat with any severe storm would be damaging winds or a brief tornado. Would not be surprised if we just see a line of showers and embedded strong thunderstorms. Gradient winds are expected to crank up to between 20 and 30 mph with gusts around 45 mph outside of thunderstorms this evening and overnight. A Wind Advisory was issued from 7 PM tonight through 6 AM on Thursday. Expect winds to decrease to between 10 and 15 mph with gusts around 30 mph toward daybreak. && .SHORT TERM... (Thursday through Saturday) Issued at 335 PM CST Wed Jan 18 2023 Most guidance pushes this activity out of most of the area by daybreak. The exception might be extreme northeastern Alabama, where some chance of showers could linger just after sunrise. Most guidance quickly moves the cloud cover out of the area shortly after daybreak into the early morning hours. Despite some weak cooler/drier air advection in behind the front, highs should still get into the lower to mid 60s. High pressure pushes east into the area Thursday through the day on Saturday. This should make for colder days and nights through then. Highs in the upper 40s to lower 50s are expected on Friday. Lows should drop into the upper 20s to lower 30s Friday night. && .LONG TERM... (Saturday night through Tuesday) Issued at 355 PM CST Wed Jan 18 2023 An "atmospheric river" setup that brought a series of storms across the western CONUS the past couple of weeks has shifted more westward, now from the Himalayas to around the Date Line. East of the Date Line, a more active pattern was in place with a few systems moving ashore, this time more across British Columbia and the Alaska Panhandle. These systems were then taking a move to the SE, with more surface cyclones forming east of the Rockies. One such system now moving ashore British Columbia and the upper Pacific NW will result in the development of an upper low over the Four-Corners Friday. This system will spawn the formation of a surface low east of the Rockies this weekend. This next system will bring more chances of showers beginning Saturday night, continuing into late Sunday. The precip should stay all liquid, with daytime highs in the lower 50s and lows in the mid 30s to low 40s. Rainfall amounts for what it is worth are forecast to be on the light side, ranging from 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch. Between systems, a dry period is forecast on Monday/Mon night as yet another system coming ashore creates another area of low pressure more over the Deep South, then moving it over the region Tue/Wed. It will bring more showers for the early week. The Canadian run has the low moving more over the Ohio Valley, bringing a better opportunity for isolated thunder mixed in more scattered showers. The GFS/ECMWF tracks the low over this region which would bring more of a cold rain. In either case, temperatures should trend cooler as we go into the middle of next week. Lows should range in the mid/upper 30s, with highs in the low 50s. Depending on how long precipitation continues on Wed, a mix with snow cannot be ruled out to close out the forecast. Stayed all liquid this go around pending future model runs. && .AVIATION... (00Z TAFS) Issued at 625 PM CST Wed Jan 18 2023 A layer of MVFR stratus currently observed at the terminals will continue to descend early in the TAF period, as southerly low- level flow strengthens ahead of an approaching sfc trough and broken QLCS across southwestern TN/northern MS. Cigs will fall to arnd 1500 ft by 2Z, with an increasing coverage of light SHRA, and LLWS has also been included at this time due to the magnitude of the low-level jet. The broken QLCS is expected to arrive arnd 4-5Z at MSL and will progress east-southeastward during the early morning hours. TEMPO groups have been included at MSL/4-8Z and HSV/6-10Z to indicate periods of +SHRA and more significant reductions in cig/vsby. Conditions will improve during the second half of the TAF period, with sfc winds veering to SW in the wake of the trough and increasing to 10G18 knots once again by 14Z. && .HUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AL...Wind Advisory until 6 AM CST Thursday for ALZ001>010-016. TN...Wind Advisory until 6 AM CST Thursday for TNZ076-096-097. && NEAR TERM...KTW SHORT TERM...KTW LONG TERM...09 AVIATION...70/DD
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 strong wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A tree was knocked down at 2085 Jackson Highway at the Wesley Memorial Methodist Church.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alabama in 2023Every state in 2023This day in weather historyWarnings in Alabama, January 2023
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: 1076816.