Significant Event Summary   [Statistics & Observations]

The weather headlines of 2005 in the Tennessee Valley were:

• active tropical season with several storms affecting the area
• dry weather other than the tropical storms
• lake effect snow band reaches the Tennessee Valley
• unseasonably late freeze in the spring and early freeze in the fall
• relatively low number of tornadoes reported

Lake effect snow band on the Hytop radar at 5am on January 23rd

2005 began on an extremely warm note, with highs in the 60s and 70s recorded every day for the first two weeks of the year. The average temperature of 58.0 over that period marked the warmest start to a year on record in Huntsville. This warm period was broken by a damaging wind severe weather event on January 13th, after which temperatures stayed below average for the rest of the month. Two winter weather events occurred during this cold period. The first occurred on the 23rd when a lake effect snow band from Lake Michigan made it all the way into northern Alabama, a distance of almost 500 miles! The snow bands produced a dusting to one-half inch of snow across portions of Madison, Lincoln, and Franklin County Tennessee. A second winter event on the 28th and 29th impacted mainly the elevated terrain of northeast Alabama, where significant icing caused some roads to become impassable.

Hail in Florence on February 21st

In contrast to an active January, much of February was unremarkable. Temperatures for much of the month were above average, and unsurprisingly, no snow whatsoever was reported for the entire month. However, the most widespread severe weather event of the spring season occurred on February 21st. There were nearly 40 reports of large hail across the Tennessee Valley over an 11 hour time span, and baseball sized hail was reported near Valley Head in DeKalb County.

March marked the beginning of a dry spring. Precipitation at the Huntsville airport for the month was just 4.02 inches, while just 2.16 inches fell at Muscle Shoals. The Tennessee Valley dodged a bullet twice later in the month as severe weather threatened the area, but the worst of the storms stayed well to the south.

Tree damage in the Little River Canyon Wildlife Refuge from an F0 Tornado on April 22nd

The dry weather continued into April, though more than 2 inches of rain on the 6th at both Huntsville and Muscle Shoals prevented rainfall for the month from falling below normal. More severe weather arrived later in the month with just the first confirmed tornado of the season, an F-0 with winds of 70 mph, occurring in DeKalb County on the 22nd. Just 2 days later parts of the Tennessee Valley experienced the worst late April cold snap in more than 30 years, and many areas reported a very late freeze.

In years past, May had marked some of the worst severe weather and worst flooding in recent memory. This was not to be the case in 2005, as no rainfall was reported for the first 13 days of the month at Huntsville for the first time since 1942. Less than an inch of rain fell for the entire month at Muscle Shoals, and just 1.89 inches fell in Huntsville. Despite the dry weather, temperatures were actually quite seasonable.

Visible satellite image of Hurricane Dennis just prior to landfall on July 10th

June 1st brought the start of the hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin, and it didn’t take much time for the first tropical storm of the season to form. Tropical Storm Arlene developed in the Caribbean on the 8th and made landfall just east of Mobile Bay 3 days later. The storm tracked northward across Alabama, spreading moderate to heavy rainfall across the Tennessee Valley, and breaking the dry spell at least temporarily. Less than a month passed before yet another storm approached the Tennessee Valley, this time Hurricane Dennis, which made landfall on July 10th near Pensacola, Florida. The storm reminded many of Hurricane Ivan from September 2004, but Dennis collapsed quickly after making landfall. Winds did not even reach tropical storm force (39 mph) across the area and rainfall amounts only averaged around 1 inch.

After some relatively cool summers in years past, hot weather returned for July and August 2005. Temperatures reached into the mid 90s several times in late July, but the hottest weather was reported in august. Huntsville reached 100 degrees on the 21st, for the first time since 2000, while Muscle Shoals reached 99 degrees on the 20th. The hot weather helped spark scattered air mass thunderstorms across the area nearly every day in July and August, and several of the storms produced significant wind damage due to downburst winds.

Infrared satellite image of Hurricane Katrina moving inland across southern Mississippi on August 29

Despite the active thunderstorm season, the main event for August, and arguably the entire year, was Hurricane Katrina. Katrina will be long remembered for her destruction as she made landfall in Louisiana and Mississippi on the 29th. The storm made quite an impact locally as well, producing more than 6 inches of rain in portions of northwest Alabama and wind gusts near 50 mph. Despite the destruction, Katrina benefited the Tennessee Valley with her rainfall, and kept drought from becoming too severe.

The dry weather locally, and the active tropical season as a whole, continued into September. Barely half an inch of rain fell at Huntsville and Muscle Shoals for the first 24 days of the month, but then came Hurricane Rita. This storm made landfall near the Texas-Louisiana line then came east, providing much needed rainfall, but also the threat of tornadoes. Several storms showed strong rotation but there were never any confirmed tornadoes produced in the Tennessee Valley by Rita.

Unlike in 2004, October 2005 was a very quiet month, and unfortunately also very dry. Just 0.01 inches of rain fell at Muscle Shoals, making it the 4th driest on record, while just 0.10 inches fell at Huntsville, making it the 5th driest on record. October started out warm as well, before a cold snap late in the month brought an unusually early freeze to much of the Tennessee Valley.

Severe weather made a return appearance for the fall severe weather season, twice in November and once in December. Just the second confirmed tornado of the year was reported on November 15th in western Cullman County, while more widespread straight-line wind damage was reported on December 4th with a squall line. The severe weather events helped relieve ongoing dry weather but did not put a dent in the rainfall deficit for the year, which reached nearly a foot and a half at Muscle Shoals by the end of December. Cooler weather returned to the Tennessee Valley for December as well, as the area spent much of the month below normal. There was little snow though, only a few spots saw a trace of snowfall.

2005 Statistics and Observations [Back to Top]

*Note: Decatur, Alabama (DCU) does not have a sufficient period of record to be considered an official site.