Thanks to Jason Simpson for crunching these numbers from Birmingham data and letting me steal some of them for Weather by the Numbers.
* 49 was the average high at Birmingham Airport between January 16 and February 18. The normal high is 55.
* 30 was the average low during that cold period. Normal is 33.
* 22 days during that time had lows freezing or lower.
* 10 days had lows 25 or below.
* 6 degrees below normal is what we have averaged for the high temperature in the last 34 days.
* 65 is the percentage of our nights that had a freeze during those 34 days.
* 18 was our coldest during that time on January 29.
* 12 was the lowest reported in the area during that time in West Hueytown, thanks to data from 33/40 skywatcher John Talbot.
OTHER NUMBERS
* 6,000 is the number of miles that Gary Woodall drives each spring during Skywarn training (Weather Awareness) in the counties that NWS, Fort Worth is responsible for. Gary is the WCM (Warning Coordination Metrologist) for the Fort Worth Forecast Office. (Thanks to Kevin Selle (The Hat) for that interesting stat.
* 60 is the normal high temperature for Birmingham today for the first time this year.
* 52 is our normal high during the coldest part of the winter, January 7-19.
* 36 is our normal low today. The coldest normal is 32 between January 5 and 27.
* 57 is the number of minutes of extra afternoon daylight that we have now as compared to the shortest days. Our earliest sunset is 4:39. Sunset today is at 5:36.
* 116 is the number of hours that the Birmingham temperature stayed below 32 day and night between January 23-28 in 1940. During that super coldwave, we had a good snow cover and for at least the second time in history, there was ice skating on the Warrior River at Birmingport.
* 21 million is the estimated number of lightning strokes that hit in the USA each year.
* 100 is the average number of persons killed each year in the USA by lightning with 500 injuries. Yes, lightning is frightening. In most years, it kills more people in the country than tornadoes and hurricanes combined. Not always, of course. This is Severe Weather Awareness Week in Alabama and the National Weather Service is emphasizing lightning safety today as their subject of the day.
* 18 is the average high temperature in Chicago since February 1.
* 42 was the high in the windy city yesterday. It was the first time, day or night, that the Chicago temperature had been above freezing since January 27.
* 50 is the forecast high for Des Moines tomorrow. They, too, have suffered a brutal spell of wintry weather.
* 84 was the warm spot in the USA yesterday at Dryden, Texas.
* 16 below zero was the coldest in our lower 4 dozen connected states this morning at Whitefield, New Hampshire.
* 46 below was the coldest in Alaska, at Eagle.
* 5 is the number of muscles (feels like) that I pulled in my hip and lower back yesterday. First time I have had a pulled muscle in many years. I can hardly walk. I am blaming it on Little Miss Molly who jerks me about so much on our NASCAR walks. I have had to subcontract walking duties to Molly’s majority owner. Three cheers. I can at least get a little more rest.
