National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

Severe Weather Awareness Week
February 17-22th, 2013

Governor Robert Bentley has declared February 17-22th, 2013 as Severe Weather Awareness Week in Alabama. The National Weather Service, the Alabama Emergency Management Agency, and other supporting organizations, ask for your help in providing the public with information about severe weather safety. Advance planning and increased awareness will help residents of Alabama survive these deadly storms.

For an electronic version of the Alabama All Hazards Awareness Booklet click here.

"Tornado Safety Drill" on Wednesday, February 20. In Alabama, we do not conduct a statewide tonado drill.  However, we encourage everyone to conduct their own safety drill on Wednesday, Feb 20th.  This "tornado safety drill" will be accomplished in conjunction with our weekly NOAA All-Hazards Radio Test that will be run at a special time of 9 am. An actual tornado warning WILL NOT sound, but this is an excellent opportunity for schools, civic organizations and businesses around central Alabama to practice what they would do in the event of a tornado warning.

Severe weather can happen at any time. Here are some events from the last couple of years:

Christmas Tornadoes of 2012:  8 tornadoes made their way through the southern counties of central Alabama.  Luckily, only 2 people were injured as this was another example of tornado touchdowns at night. 

Tornado Outbreak of January 23, 2012:  11 tornadoes touched down around central Alabama during the morning hours of January 23rd. 2 people lost their lives and 76 people were injured.

4 Tornadoes on February 28th: A low pressure system developed in the Southern Plains, eventually tracking across the Tennessee Valley, well to the north of Alabama.Embedded in the line were storms that developed supercellular structures, a few of which spawned tornadoes and many areas of straight line wind damage.

Widespread Wind Damage and One Tornado: A line of thunderstorms, which had been fairly weak as it moved through Mississippi, intensified as it crossed over the Mississippi-Alabama State Line. Multiple segments of the line caused straight line wind damage throughout portion of the Birmingham county warning area.

Tornado Outbreak of April 15th:  As part of a system which wreaked havoc across the eastern half of the United States on April 14th-16th, 30 tornadoes developed across central Alabama.

Historic Tornado Outbreak of April 27th

For a more comprehensive list of severe weather events, click here.