It was February 13, 1899. I wonder what Alabamians were thinking? People were waking up to the coldest weather of their lifetime. At Birmingham, the temperature dropped to 10 below zero. Official records at that time were taken downtown. There was no such think as the airport weather station and no records from places like Pinson.
In the NWS Office at 11 West Oxmoor Road, we had those official records at one time. They were crude by the standards today, in fact, the records were scribbled by hand into a journal with about 12 days of record on one page. There were no hourly observations. I did notice that the observer had scribbled in red ink on the February 13 page that in some outlying areas of Birmingham people had called in temperatures of 13 and 14 below zero. If Pinson records were available then, I feel sure we would have had 15 or 16 below.
It had to be a great shock, because early that month temperatures were in the mid 70s and later after the cold wave temperatures again reached the 60s and 70s. That had to be the mother of all cold waves or possibly the grandmother of all cold waves.
There was ice skating on the Black Warrior River at Birmingport. Ice thickness near the bank was 9 inches.
Believe it or not, February, 1899 was not one of our coldest months ever, overall. Not by a long shot. The average high temperature for that month was 50.1 and the average low 30.1 In the first week of that month, the temperature reached the 70s on three days. After the super cold wave (I still like that term “cold wave” but no longer used except by me) there was a nice recovery and the last 10 days of the month had highs mostly in the 60s and even one day with 70. But there was an 8-day stretch from the 7th to the 14th when it was way below freezing every night, including that -10 on the 13th, 3 above the next morning and 5 on the 12th.
NOW CONSIDER JANUARY 1940
The average high for the month was 39.7, more than 10 degrees colder than February, 1899. The average low was 21.5 as compared to 30.9 in February, 1899.
And, yes, there was ice skating on the Black Warrior again and also at East Lake Park. A low of 10 below zero was recorded at Birmingham Airport. A weather station had been established there but it was not yet official.
Meanwhile, Downtown Birmingham recorded a low of 2 above zero where the official records were. Also where there was a fairly healthy “heat island” in those days.
Weather records can sometimes be as fickle as the weather itself.
But, life goes on and that is what matters most..
