The Takeaway
After a stretch of upper-90s and even 100-degree afternoons, Tuesday still felt like late summer, but the peak heat backed off a notch. Official climate sites topped out at 90°F in Huntsville and 92°F in Muscle Shoals — warm, just not record territory. Scattered thunderstorms bloomed again in the afternoon, with the heaviest punch over the Alabama side of the network. No calendar-date records were tied or broken at the key climate stations.

The Playout
Huntsville International (KHSV) checked in at 90°F / 67°F on the official NWS climate summary, with thunderstorms, heavy rain, and fog in the mix and a peak wind gust of 30 mph. Muscle Shoals (KMSL) led the official pair at 92°F / 69°F, with thunderstorms, light rain, and fog and a gust to 31 mph.

Across the Viewing Area METARs, afternoon storms and cloud cover put a lid on some Tennessee readings. Columbia (KMRC) was the cool outlier at about 81°F, while Lawrenceburg (K2M2) peaked near 86°F. Lewisburg (KLUG) and Pulaski (KGZS) both reached about 88°F. Savannah (KSNH) was near 86°F. On the Alabama and Mississippi side, Decatur (KDCU) and Redstone (KHUA) both pushed about 91°F, Courtland (K9A4) and Iuka (K15M) about 90°F. Morning fog or mist showed up at Pulaski and Lawrenceburg. Fayetteville (KFYM) remained offline with no usable observations.

For context on this date’s history from the official CLI products: Huntsville’s September 22 record high is 101°F (1925) and the record low is 39°F (1913, 1918, and 1938). Muscle Shoals’ September 22 record high is 98°F (2010) and the record low is 37°F (1913). Tuesday’s 90/67 at HSV and 92/69 at MSL did not approach those marks.

The Rain Bucket
Rain was hit-or-miss and heavily skewed to the south and west of the metro corridor. Official CLI rainfall: Huntsville 0.17″ and Muscle Shoals 0.01″. Month-to-date is still running dry at the climate sites — HSV only 0.27″ for September so far (normal about 2.50″), MSL 1.06″ (normal about 2.62″).

METAR-derived storm totals (AO2 gauges; SPECI double-counts removed): Decatur picked up about 0.31″ in a sharp +TSRA burst mid-afternoon. Courtland saw the standout dump, about 0.88″ with heavy rain and gusts near 36 knots. Redstone and Iuka only managed a trace. Several Tennessee AWOS sites (Lawrenceburg, Columbia, Lewisburg, Pulaski, Savannah) are A01 platforms without a reported precip group, so rainfall there is not quantified in the table.