UPDATED 3:20 PM TO CLARIFY BULLET POINT NO. 2
* 24 is how many inches of rain that Anniston has received above what they had received on this same date last year. So, they are 267% ahead of last year. However, they still show a deficit for this year of 1.23 inches. Last year on this same date, Anniston had a shortfall of an amazing 25.42 inches.
* 3.63 inches is how much Birmingham Airport is ahead of the game this year as compared to a deficit of 17.11 on this same date last year.
* 9.18 inches is the current deficit for Tuscaloosa, but last year at this time, they were near 25 inches in the hole.
* 1.01 inches is all the rain that Las Vegas has received this year. They have a shortfall of 2.45.
* 50.03 inches of rain at St. Louis so far this year–double that of last year. They now show an amazing excess of 21.37 inches.
* 345 feet is the highest elevation in Florida. Downtown Birmingham is almost twice that. The Florida “mountain” is called Britton Hill. It is located just a few miles south of the Alabama border NE of Crestview and south of Florala, Alabama. You hardly know you are passing through the higher elevation. We all know that elevation plays a major part in weather and climate, but in places like Florida and Louisiana it means very little.
* 448 feet is the highest elevation in Delaware. It is located at the north tip of the state along the Pennsylvania border. Did you know that the Pennsylvania/Delaware state line is the only rounded border in the USA? It is oval shaped. I have often wondered how two locations along the Delaware coast got their names: one is Slaughter Beach and the other Broadkill Beach.
* 25 feet is how much the Arctic Circle can fluctuate each year. It varies that much on an average becuase of the wobbling of the earth. Mind you, 25 feet is five feet less than a first down in football and Little Miss Molly can run that distance in 1.3 seconds.
* 1873 was the year when the first official forecasts were distributed to thousands of rural post offices (that was 135 years ago). The forecasts were displayed on the front of post office buildings and called “Farmer’s Bulletins.” They were distributed by the Signal Service Offices later to become known as the U. S. Weather Bureau.
* 1881 is the year that local weather signal flags replaced the bulletins. The flags were very large. For example, the Cold Wave Flag measured 6 x 8 feet and was white with a 2-foot square black center. (I still miss that old term Cold Wave Warning.) The flags were displayed over post office buildings. One day soon I will post a separate story about all those early day efforts to get weather information to the general public. We have no idea how fortunate we are today.
* 102 was the temperature in Baghdad in 4:00 this afternoon (their time). The humidity was only 12%. The Baghdad weather is going to be more user-friendly as the week goes on with highs in the lower 90s by Friday and Saturday and a cool 66 degrees expected early Saturday morning. I know our military personnel will be glad to experience that and I really feel for them and their families back home.
* 5 below zreo is the expected low Saturday morning at Alert, Nunavut. That is the northernmost weather station in North America. Their high Saturday should be 3 above. All of this is another distinct sign that we are getting in to a new season.
* 86 below zero was the temperature this morning at Vostok, Antarctica almost at the opposite end of the world. It is now early spring in the Southern Hemsiphere.
* 23 was the coldest in the USA this morning shared by Redmond, Oregon and Gulkana, Alaska. It was 46 on St. Paul Island where they once went 38 years without experiencing thunder and lightning and when it finally happened, some of the natives were terrified.
* 77% is how much of the Alabama topsoil has an adequate to surplus moisture.
* 17% is all of the pasture and rangeland that is in poor condition–the rest is adequate or good. That is a huge change from last year at this time.
* 5 is how many cups of coffee I have already had this morning. No wonder I can’t quit typing. It is the equivalent of not wanting to stop talking. I still haven’t posted a story that I had promised Matt Padgett in Moody that I would tell one day. It is about our very difficult trip trying to reach Roger’s Pass, Montana when there was still big snow on the ground. Roger’s Pass in the Montana Mountains west of Helena and Great Falls, still holds the all-time low temperature for the lower 48 states of 70 below zero in January 1954. Our visit there was a hoot.
I am out of here. I need some more coffee.
