Well, here we are in December already and another year is almost gone. December can throw us all kinds of weather. The only thing we are almost assured of is to not have any tropical storms. The season has ended and we are so happy.
Long term averages at Birmingham Airport, which is also typical for the Tuscaloosa-Anniston area, shows that the average high temperature to start the month is around 60 cooling to about 56 in mid December and 53 at the end of the month. The average low starts out around 38 and chills to about 33 by the end of the month.
Average rainfall for December is 4.47 inches. The most we ever had was 13.98 inches in 1961 and the least 0.81 in 1980. We are getting into that time of the year when a serious drought is highly unlikely.
As in every month of the winter, we can have some real warm spells. Back on December 7, 1951, we had a high of 80 which is the highest ever recorded in December with records dating back to 1885. Te coldest ever recorded was 1 above zero in 1989 on the 23rd.
It is a little early to speculate on Christmas Day this year, but long-term records show an average high of 54 and an average low of 34. Ironically, the highest ever recorded on Christmas Day was 73 in 1982 and the coldest was the very next year, 1983 with a frigid 2 above zero.
