The Birmingham office of the National Weather Service has put together a great summary of the active weather we’ve experienced in Central Alabama during the first half of 2011. I’ve put that release below for you to peruse. I’m sure everyone has their own memories of some of the active weather so far this year, but this is a concise review of what has happened across the 39 counties served by the Birmingham NWS.
Remember, there are four NWS offices serving Alabama, so this only summarizes the weather in the service area of the Birmingham office.
-Brian-
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
709 AM CDT MON JUL 4 2011
…WEATHER AND CLIMATE INFORMATION FOR CENTRAL ALABAMA…
…THE FIRST HALF OF 2011…
IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING THAT THE FIRST HALF OF 2011 HAS BEEN ONE OF
THE MOST ACTIVE WEATHER PERIODS CENTRAL ALABAMA HAS SEEN IN QUITE
SOME TIME. FROM MULTIPLE SNOW EVENTS TO THE TORNADO OUTBREAK OF
APRIL 27TH…EVEN IF WE DON’T EXPERIENCE ANY TROPICAL DISTURBANCES
THIS SUMMER…THERE WILL STILL BE A LOT TO LOOK BACK ON.
WINTER 2011 STARTED WITH A BANG ON JANUARY 9TH AND 10TH WHEN HEAVY
AMOUNTS OF SNOW AND ICE FELL ACROSS A LARGE PORTION OF THE STATE.
NORTHERN COUNTIES OF CENTRAL ALABAMA SAW ANYWHERE FROM ONE TO SEVEN
INCHES OF SNOW…AND TRACE AMOUNTS WERE SEEN AS FAR SOUTH AS PIKE
AND BARBOUR COUNTIES. FEBRUARY 9TH BROUGHT MORE SNOW AS UPWARDS OF
5 INCHES FELL IN LAMAR…FAYETTE AND MARION COUNTIES. AGAIN…MOST
EVERYONE SAW AT LEAST A TRACE.
SPRING SEVERE WEATHER SEASON WAS NOT TOO FAR BEHIND THE LAST SNOW OF
THE YEAR AS THE FIRST TORNADO OF 2011 WAS RECORDED IN HACKLEBURG IN
MARION COUNTY ON FEBRUARY 24TH. YES…HACKLEBURG HAS SEEN TWO
TORNADOES ALREADY THIS YEAR…AS WELL AS A STRAIGHT LINE WIND EVENT
ON APRIL 20TH WHEN MULTIPLE BOW ECHOES RACED THROUGH THE STATE.
HERE IS A SHORT SUMMARY OF EACH SEVERE WEATHER EVENT SO FAR THIS
YEAR:
FEBRUARY 24TH…AN EF-0 STRUCK HACKLEBURG DESTROYING CHICKEN BARNS
AND OUTBUILDINGS JUST NORTHWEST OF TOWN AS A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS
MOVED THROUGH THE STATE.
FEBRUARY 28TH…3 EF-0’S AND AN EF-1 DEVELOPED AS A BROKEN LINE OF
THUNDERSTORMS WITH SUPERCELLULAR STRUCTURES MOVED THROUGH THE
AREA…CAUSING DAMAGE FROM TALLADEGA TO LOWNDES COUNTY.
MARCH 5TH AND 6TH…AN INTENSE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM OVER THE NORTHERN
HALF OF THE COUNTRY BROUGHT HEAVY RAINFALL TOTALS TO CENTRAL
ALABAMA. UPWARDS OF 5 TO 6 INCHES FELL IN OUR SOUTHWEST COUNTIES.
MARCH 8TH AND 9TH…WIDESPREAD FLASH FLOODING AND RIVER FLOODING
OCCURRED WHEN A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS MOVED THROUGH THE AREA. 6
INCHES FELL IN WESTERN COUNTIES AND WIDESPREAD STRAIGHT LINE WIND
DAMAGE ACROSS SOUTHERN COUNTIES.
MARCH 26TH THROUGH 28TH…HAIL PRODUCING SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORMS
MOVED THROUGH THE AREA ALL 3 DAYS. 3.5 INCH HAIL STONES FELL IN
TALLAPOOSA COUNTY…AS WELL AS AN EF-1 TORNADO IN SOUTHERN SHELBY
COUNTY.
APRIL 4TH…A SQUALL LINE MOVED THROUGH THE AREA CAUSING HEAVY RAIN
AND WIDESPREAD STRAIGHT LINE WIND DAMAGE ACROSS ALL OF CENTRAL
ALABAMA.
APRIL 11TH…A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS CAUSED WIDESPREAD STRAIGHT LINE
WIND DAMAGE FROM PICKENS TO JEFFERSON COUNTY…INCLUDING ONE EF-1
TORNADO IN JEFFERSON COUNTY.
APRIL 15TH…30 TORNADOES TOUCHED DOWN AS SUPERCELLS RACED ACROSS
CENTRAL ALABAMA. MANY WERE ONLY OF THE EF-0 AND EF-1 VARIETY…BUT
3 EF-3’S DEVELOPED AND 4 FATALITIES WERE RECORDED ON THIS DAY.
APRIL 20TH…TWO SEPARATE BOW ECHOES MOVED ACROSS THE AREA CAUSING
WIDESPREAD WIND DAMAGE ACROSS OUR WESTERN COUNTIES.
APRIL 27TH…THE LARGEST OUTBREAK OF TORNADOES SINCE 1974 STRUCK
CENTRAL ALABAMA. FROM THE INTENSE LINE IN THE MORNING HOURS THAT
DROPPED 11 TORNADOES INCLUDING 2 EF-3’S…TO THE AFTERNOON AND
EVENING SUPERCELLS WHICH DROPPED ANOTHER 19 TORNADOES…INCLUDING 4
EF-4’S AND AN EF-5…133 PEOPLE LOST THEIR LIVES IN CENTRAL ALABAMA
ON THIS DAY.
THE WEATHER QUICKLY QUIETED DOWN FOR THE MONTH OF MAY AS HIGH
PRESSURE DOMINATED THE WEATHER PATTERN FOR BOTH MAY AND JUNE. THIS
LED TO DRIER THAN NORMAL CONDITIONS BOTH MONTHS…AND CONTRIBUTED TO
THE EVENTUAL OUTDOOR BURNING BAN ISSUED BY GOVERNOR BENTLEY ON JUNE
7TH. WITH SLIGHTLY HIGHER RAINFALL TOTALS IN JUNE…MOST OF THE
AREA MANAGED TO STAY BELOW D3 (EXTREME) DROUGHT LEVELS…THOUGH
THROUGH JUNE 28TH…SLIVERS OF LEE…RUSSELL AND BARBOUR COUNTIES
FELL INTO D4 (EXCEPTIONAL) DROUGHT CONDITIONS.
HERE ARE A FEW TIDBITS OF INFORMATION FROM THE FIRST HALF OF
2011:
1) BIRMINGHAM REACHED AT LEAST 95 DEGREES FOR 18 CONSECUTIVE
DAYS…2ND MOST IN HISTORY…FROM MAY 30TH TO JUNE 16TH.
2) BIRMINGHAM HAS NOT REACHED 100 DEGREES YET…BUT HAS REACHED 99
DEGREES 4 TIMES ALREADY.
3) BIRMINGHAM FELL TO ITS LOWEST TEMPERATURE TWICE…16 DEGREES…
ON JANUARY 13TH AND 14TH.
4) ANNISTON FELL BELOW 32 DEGREES 16 TIMES FROM JANUARY 2ND UNTIL
17TH…WHICH IS THE 7TH MOST IN HISTORY.
5) ANNISTON’S LOWEST TEMPERATURE SO FAR THIS YEAR IS 14 ON JANUARY
14TH.
6) ANNISTON’S WARMEST TEMPERATURES SO FAR THIS YEAR IS 99 ON JUNE
1ST.
7) ANNISTON REACHED AT LEAST 95 DEGREES FOR 12 CONSECUTIVE
DAYS…4TH MOST IN HISTORY…FROM MAY 30TH UNTIL JUNE 10TH.
8) MONTGOMERY’S LOWEST TEMPERATURE SO FAR THIS YEAR IS 15 ON JANUARY
14TH.
9) MONTGOMERY’S WARMEST TEMPERATURE OF THE YEAR HAS BEEN 100 DEGREES
ON JUNE 1ST…BUT HAS REACHED 99 DEGREES 8 TIMES ALREADY.
10) TUSCALOOSA FELL BELOW 32 DEGREES FOR 10 CONSECUTIVE DAYS…16TH
MOST IN HISTORY…FROM FEBRUARY 5TH UNTIL 14TH.
11) TUSCALOOSA HAS CLIMBED ABOVE 100 DEGREES 5 TIMES ALREADY THIS
YEAR.
12) TUSCALOOSA FELL TO ITS COLDEST TEMPERATURE OF THE YEAR…17
DEGREES…ON JANUARY 13TH AND 14TH.
13) THE HACKLEBURG EF-5 TORNADO AND TUSCALOOSA-BIRMINGHAM EF-4
TORNADO RANK AS THE 6TH AND 7TH DEADLIEST TORNADOES IN U.S. HISTORY.
14) NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WEATHER FORECAST OFFICES AVERAGED 24
MINUTES OF LEAD TIME ON APRIL 27TH.
15) APRIL 27TH AND 15TH RANK 1 AND 2 IN THE NUMBER OF SINGLE EVENT
TORNADOES IN CENTRAL ALABAMA HISTORY.
16) BIRMINGHAM RECORDED ITS 5TH DRIEST MAY IN HISTORY WITH ONLY 1.06
INCHES OF RAIN.
17) TUSCALOOSA RECORDED ITS 4TH DRIEST MAY IN HISTORY WITH ONLY 1.09
INCHES OF RAIN.
18) ANNISTON RECORD ITS 3RD DRIEST MAY IN HISTORY WITH ONLY 0.97
INCHES OF RAIN.
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