Alabama’s Top Weather Stories from 2008

Counting down my top ten Alabama weather events for 2008…

10. February Derecho: On February 26 a damaging wind event caused a widespread swath of destruction from east of Birmingham in Central Alabama into western Georgia. Winds of 60-70 mph were estimated across a wide area with gusts to over 100 mph in some areas. Tornadoes also touched down in Leeds, Highland Lakes and Pell City. All of these tornadoes were rated as EF1s. The event started around 3:30 in southern Jefferson County. The line of storms responsible for the derecho reached the Georgia border by 5 a.m. One woman was killed in Leeds when a tree fell through her mobile home.

9. Prattville Tornado – On February 17th, an EF3 tornado injured fifty people as it crossed the southern portions of Prattville. Significant damage was reported, with over 200 residences and 40 businesses damaged or destroyed.

8. Huntsville Air Show wind event: As thousands waited to watch the Blue Angels perform at the Huntsville International Airport Airshow on June 29th, a line of thunderstorms approached from the west. The storm did not have a history of damage and didn’t look impressive on radar, but it produced a wet microburst over the Airport. A large tent was overturned, injuring 12 and killing a five year old boy.

7. Mobile County Incredible Rains: 11.20 inches fell in nine hours on April 4th at a CoCoRAHS observer gauge just west of the Mobile Airport. 8.39 inches fell in Tillmans Corner, 8.25 inches in Spanish Fort and 7.58 fell inches in Saraland. Severe flooding was reported, especially in the Saraland and Prichard areas. Numerous water rescues had to be performed overnight.

6. Central Alabama Snows: On January 19th, a much ballyhooed event left a lot of snow lovers disappointed across Alabama on a Saturday morning. Two to four inches of snow did fall in an area from Marengo County through Hale, Perry, Dallas, Chilton and Coosa Counties. Five inches fell at Orrville in Dallas County, the highest amount measured. Nearly an inch fell in the Trussville area east of Birmingham, but officially at BHM, only a trace was observed, keeping the Magic City’s snowless streak intact.

5. Birmingham Snowless Streak rolls on. As 2008 comes to a close, Birmingham’s snowless streak stood at 3260 days. Measurable snow has not been observed at the Birmingham Airport since January 28, 2000.

4. Super Tuesday Outbreak: February 5th was the much-awaited Super Tuesday Event when 24 states held caucuses or Presidential primaries. For over a week, severe weather had been predicted as an unusually strong trough swung was forecast to eastward out of the West. Through the afternoon and evening, terrifying reports of killer tornadoes came out of Arkansas and Tennessee. The system transformed into a squall line during the late evening. As it moved towards Alabama, supercell storms developed ahead of the line in eastern Mississippi. They tracked over Lamar, Marion and Fayette Counties. A tornado developed in the Bankhead National Forest and tracked northeast. Three fatalities were reported near Aldrich Grove. As it moved toward Decatur, the NWS declared a tornado emergency for Decatur. Fortunately the tornado lifted before reaching the city. The tornado killed a total of four people.

3. Fay’s rains. The remnants of Tropical Storm Fay brought four day rain totals of 7.01 inches at the Birmingham Airport between August 23-26. The beneficial rains made a big dent in the drought conditions that had been plaguing Alabama.

2. Record number of tornadoes in Alabama in 2008: There were eighty one tornadoes in Alabama in 2008 including the two tornadoes from Christmas Eve. That is a record for the state. There were five tornado fatalities, including the four on the night of the Super Tuesday Outbreak in North Alabama. A total of sixty six people were injured. There were three EF3 and two EF4 tornadoes in the state this year.

1. Drought Eases in Alabama: In January, much of the northern half of Alabama was in the highest drought category. It eased a bit in February and the exceptional drought area was gone by the end of March. Only the extreme Northeast corner of the state was in extreme drought by the end of May, but drought conditions were still being experienced in about 2/3 of the state. By the end of July, the drought was making a comeback, but Tropical Storm Fay dented the drought severely. By the end of August, drought was limited to the extreme Northeast corner of the state. September was on the dry side, but October rains really helped. November was dry again, but December rains, as much as 11 inches in Huntsville, erased the drought, leaving just a stripe of abnormally dry conditions near the I-59 corridor.

– Bill Murray

bill.murray@theweathercompany.com

Follow my weather history tweets on Twitter. I am wxhistorian.

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