Where has the year gone? Now we are in the twelfth month of 2009. It has been an interesting year weather wise in Birmingham, with rainfall being the big story. We have already measured 65.04 inches of rain this year, enough to make it 14th wettest year ever. We might break into the top five years for rain in our history.
By the calendar, winter starts on December 21st, but meteorologically speaking, it begins Tuesday. Then we will enter our stretch of three coldest months. There is not much difference in temperatures between mid-December and mid-February.
December is the second coldest month in Birmingham, with a mean temperature of 45.2F. We start off with an average high of 60F on the first, and that is the last time we will see that until late February. The average low on December 1st of 38F will drop to 33F by the end of the month.
The warmest it has ever been in any December in the Magic City was 80F on December 7, 1951. The coldest it has ever been is 1F twice, on December 13, 1962 and December 23, 1989.
The average rainfall during the month is 4.41 inches. 13.98 inches fell in January 1961, the wettest ever. The driest December ever in Birmingham came in 1980, when only 0.81 inches of rain fell. It typically rains on 11 days. Thunderstorms occur on 1.2 days on average.
On average, a trace of snow falls in December. Eight inches of snow fell in December 1963, the most ever in the twelfth month.
Only January features less sunshine, with the 12th month averaging 46% of possible sunshine, the 1st month 42%. The sky is clear 26.2% on average.
Follow my daily weather history tweets on Twitter @wxhistorian.
