* 51 below zero was the temperature at Summit, Greenland (on the ice cap) this afternoon. Winter is gradually getting a grip on the far north.
* 78 percent is how much of Alabama with top soil moisture that was short or very short today according to the weekly report issued from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Alabama Field Office, Montgomery. No rain in the last week so that has worsened again.
* 80 percent of the Alabama cotton crop has been harvested. It stood at 71 percent a week ago. Harvesting has made rapid progress this week since there was no rain.
* 1/2 bale per acre was the average yield of the cotton crop in Autauga County. That is low even though cotton likes dry weather more than most other crops (to a point, that is)
* 60 percent of Alabama livestock was in poor or very poor condition.
* 76 percent of the pasture and range land was in poor to very poor condition. The drought has taken its toll.
* 26.92 inches is the rain deficiency so far this year in Anniston. That is the most of any of the 34 reporting stations that the USDA checks each week.
* 26.16 inches is the shortage at Thorsby, Chilton County, near the geographical center of the state.
* 24.72 is the shortage for Tuscaloosa.
* 48.30 inches is how much rain Geneva has received this year.That is the largest amount from the 34 stations and it means that their deficiency is only 0.92.
* 12 at Alamosa, Colo., was the coldest in the lower 48 this morning.
* 8 below zero was the coldest in Alaska at Fort Yukon.
* 45 mph is the wind gusts expected tonight as a blizzard rages across North Alaska in places like Deadhorse and Prudhoe Bay. Visibility will drop to 1/4 mile and whiteout conditions are expected. A whiteout is when it snows so hard that you lose all sense of direction and you can become lost in a heartbeat.
Wonder why, during a blinding duststorm, that a “brownout” is not mentioned.
