We are entering my favorite time of the year… the “golden days of fall†are just around the corner, and are found most often during the month of October.
Looking ahead to the final months of 2007… October can offer some really stunning weather; there will be days with a cobalt blue sky, chilly nights, and very pleasant days. October is our driest month of the year; our average rain for the month in Birmingham is only 3.23 inches. The warmest October temperature on record is 94 degrees, measured on October 1, 1919, October 5, 1927, and October 6, 1954. The coldest is 27 degrees; that was the low in Birmingham on October 28, 1957, and October 29, 1952.
As we move into November, the weather becomes more active as we get closer to winter. November and the first half of December is our “secondary†tornado season here in Alabama. Quite frankly, it has been our primary tornado season over the last seven years. Some memorable fall tornado events include the November 20, 2002 outbreak, responsible for 10 twisters and 12 fatalities. One of the hardest hit communities that Sunday night was Carbon Hill, in Walker County.
Everyone in Tuscaloosa remembers the December 16, 2000 tornado that killed 11 people and injured over 100 others. And, on November 24, 2001, three dozen tornadoes moved across Alabama.
We should also mention that snow can visit our state in November, snow squalls moved across North Alabama on November 16, 1989, one day after an F4 tornado that killed over 20 people in Huntsville. I will never forget doing the weather live on our noon news that day with visibility close to zero with heavy snow falling, in a spot where tornado damage was extreme from the day before. The scene was totally surreal.
The severe weather season tends to die down as we approach the winter solstice, which this year is on December 22. That is our shortest day of the year in terms of the amount of daylight… right before Santa comes to town.
