* 9,192,477 is how many people that visited Great Smoky Mountain National Park in 2005. That is more than double the number of number two, which was the Grand Canyon.
* 354 inches is the normal annual rainfall for Quibdo, Colombia, making it the wettest spot in South America.
* 0.03 is the normal annual rainfall for Arica at the north tip of Chile, making it not only the driest in South America, but the driest for the entire world. Arica once went 14 years in a row without any measurable rain. Zip. None.
* 59 mph is the wind gust atop Mt. Washington, New Hampshire at midday. In the last couple of days, they have recorded gusts as high as 112 mph. The temperature was 15 below zero representing about a 10-degree “warm up” from yesterday. So, I suppose they are happy.
* 62 inches is how much snow Oswego, in Western New York, has received from the current continuing lake effect snows. 57 inches at Mexico, New York. As much as 16 to 22 additional inches may fall in the next couple of days. Mind you, that 62 inches does not count huge drifts.
* 253 mph was how strong the wind was in the jet stream a few days ago over Virginia. That was at a height of 33,000 feet. Very strong jet stream.
* 85 was the warmest in the lower 48 yesterday at East Mesa, Arizona (Phoenix area).
* 36 below zero at Embarrass, Minnesota was the coldest in the lower 48 this morning followed by 33 below at Wahpeton, North Dakota.
* 1 below was the low in Chicago this morning after a high of 10 yesterday.
* 67 was the warmest in Colorado yesterday. It was 63 in Colorado Springs and 53 in Denver. Don’t you know they are dancing in the streets in appreciation of the warmth after what they have been through.
* 80 was the high at Childress in NW Texas yesterday. It was 76 in Wichita Falls. 72 was the high in Oklahoma City yesterday, 71 in Amarillo and over 70 in Tulsa. They, too, had to be very happy. However, it is turning colder across the Plains today.
* 4 is how many inches of snow fell in South Louisiana on this date in 1988. That was at Morgan City and, mind you, that is more than 50 air miles south of the LSU 50-yard line in Baton Rouge. It was the second good snow in only three days. Some places in South Louisiana in past history received as much as 24 inches of snow in one storm, which is more than any place in Alabama, including the Blizzard of ’93.
* 3 inches is how much snow was on the ground at Beech Mountain, N.C., this morning. They had a low temperature of 2 above zero.
* 63 mph was the wind gust at Marshall, N.C., at 2:45 this morning. Trees and lines came down.
