J.B. Elliott and Bill Murray did a great job on the blog while I was away looking back at the weather in Alabama during the year 2006. Here are a few more random notes, using some of their data and other information from the NWS:
*The rain total for the year at the Birmingham International Airport (where the records are kept here) was 56.56 inches, a surplus of 2.57â€. Unfortunately, the rain was not distributed very evenly, and the summer was pretty dry in many communities. Isolated afternoon summer storms seemed to form over the Airport location frequently; most other Alabama communities were considerably drier. Montgomery had a deficit of 9.89â€, while Mobile was one of the driest spots in the state with a deficit of 16.94†for the year.
*Hot weather returned to Alabama this summer. Yeah, I know, every summer here is hot, but temperatures have been below normal during the summer season from 2001-2005. Tuscaloosa observed 76 straight days with 90 degree heat during the summer. The streak ended on August 28th. On June 21st, Birmingham reached 100 degrees for the first time since August 29, 2000. It was 101F at Pinson on that very hot day.
*The coldest observation in 2006 was last month; we dropped to 17 degrees on December 8. It has been 2,527 days since we have had at least a tenth of an inch (the definition of measurable snow) at the Birmingham Airport. In case you are wondering, it last snowed on January 28, 2000. It is the longest ever observed since regular observations began in 1895. However, there has been snow and ice in many other sections of the state during this time, especially the eastern counties. Much like the rainfall total for last year, you really need to look at more than one point to get the true picture.
*There were over 50 tornadoes in Alabama in 2006 (we don’t have the exact count yet). One person was killed by a tornado in Conecuh County, near Belleville, on January 13. One scary moment came on November 15 when an F2 tornado destroyed a skating rink in Montgomery, which also served as a daycare where a number of pre-school children were in the building. Nobody was seriously injured.
