As I wrote about a few days ago, it looks like 2007 will go out somewhat wet. When you have a deficit in rain of over two feet, it can’t go out wet enough for me. The active weather pattern promises to bring some much needed rain to Central Alabama as well as North Alabama and North and Central Georgia. These areas are still in extreme drought conditions.
Projections by the HPC put rainfall amounts in the 3 to 4 inch category, but I’m a bit more pessimistic than that. I think a general 2 inch rainfall with some heavier amounts to 3 inches is more realistic. Don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly in favor of receiving some higher amounts.
So where does all of this put us when it comes to annual rainfall records? The table below shows the five lowest annual rainfall totals for Birmingham since 1895. The data for 2007 was through December 25th.
| Year | Rainfall |
| 2007 | 27.94 |
| 1895 | 29.00 |
| 1896 | 34.00 |
| 1904 | 34.32 |
| 1931 | 36.14 |
It appears likely that 2007 will go into the record books as one of the all time driest years in the last 118 years. To get pushed out as one of the driest five years on record, we’d have to see nearly nine inches of rain at the Birmingham airport over the next 12 days. That’s probably not impossible, but it’s also not likely to occur.
Even with the current projections of as much as four inches of rain through the end of 2007, it seems likely that 2007 will still go down as one of the three driest years ever here. And IF the rainfall amounts should come up short, it might be the driest year on record.
So bring on the rain!!
-Brian-
