The material presented here is collected and compiled by National Weather Service meteorologists at Birmingham for central Alabama, Huntsville for north Alabama, Tallahassee for southeast Alabama, and Mobile for southwest Alabama. The final material posted here is compiled by the Birmingham office so that the information encompasses the entire state. Each National Weather Service office involved uses a variety of methods to collect information on storm events within the state of Alabama. These sources include but are not limited to newspaper clippings, eyewitness reports, radar data, storm surveys, and storm spotter reports from amateur radio operators, law enforcement agencies, and emergency management organizations. Because of this involved process, preliminary Storm Data is posted between 60 and 90 days after the last day of the month.
Storm Data, in it's published form, includes a special section called 'Outstanding Storms of the Month' prepared by the Data Operations Branch of the National Climatic Data Center. This special feature includes photographs of storms and/or storm damage on especially noteworthy storms. Storm Data also includes periodic summaries, weather tables, and statistics prepared by the National Hurricance Center and the Storm Prediction Center.
Storm Data is intended to document storms and their impacts as completely as possible within the constraints of time and resources. However, due to the difficulties associated with the collection of this type of information, it is not all-inclusive. Information provided here should be considered preliminary until it is published in the official publication from the National Climatic Data Center