(* Formally called “Weather By The Numbers” but the new title will broaden the scope)
* IN SEARCH OF COLD AIR: And we do not have to look very far–it is pouring south. Late this morning, it was only in the 40s over Extreme North Alabama with winds gusting to 20-25 mph! Even on the Alabama Coast, the low by morning should be around 38 in Gulf Shores. High winds marked the southward march of the front Sunday in the mid-west and there were some big snowflakes in Iowa. Thanks to Jeff Wilcox, a genuine weather geek in Springville, Iowa for sending us a long list of peak wind gusts. A few samples:
68 mph Winsor Heights, Iowa (Des Moines suburb/NWS employee)
62 mph Mason City and Storm Lake, Iowa
56 mph Des Moines Airport
65 mph Dovray, Minn.
61 mph Worthington, Minn.
54 mph Sullivan, Wisc. (NWS Office near Milwaukee)
REALLY, REALLY COLD IN ALASKA: It was 34 below zero this morning at Chandalar Lake in Eastern Alaska and 31 below at Bettles where there was 9 inches of snow on the ground. Down here, where the lower four dozen state rub shoulders with each other it was 8 above zero at Pine Ridge, South Dakota.
OUT OF THIS WORLD: The Mars Lander aimed its laser eye at the sky recently and saw something never expected. At a height of 2.5 miles, snow was falling from the clouds! Will we hear about a “Blizzard Warning” on Mars one of these days? Wonder if the Martians will rush out to clean the stores of milk, bread, moon pies and pop tarts?
WATER, WATER IS NOT EVERYWHERE: There is only so much water on this old earth and with exploding populations, I often wonder if water will be more expensive than gasoline a few hundred years from now. It is an age-old problem. Way back in 1905, a growing Los Angeles gained rights to Owens Valley water. I am holding, in my coffee-stained hands an old black/white photograph of huge pipes being pulled by mule teams to build a 233-mile aqueduct.
LONG, LONG AGO: I am also holding in my coffee-stained fingers an old black/white 8×10 picture of the Weather Bureau Office in Amarillo, Texas in 1903. How things have changed! The office was in a residential area and it appears the office was established in a small two-story white frame house with a fenced in back back yard. There are three rain guages in the back yard. Two of them are just like mine, which is the old original copper gage that holds 20 inches of rain, overall, with the inside tube holding two inches. A cedar measuring stick is how you measure. It was the standard rain guage in the USWB/NWS for many years. I am amazed to see that the instrument shelter is mounted so far off the ground that you have to climb eight steps to read the instruments. Normally, the preferred height for weather thermometers is about the height of a adult human’s face–around six feet, for example. Amarillo is in “Blue Norther” country. That weather term is no longer used. Neither is “Cold Wave Warning.” I miss them both.
STILL DRY IN MANY AREAS: The Birmingham 2008 rain surplus stands at 1.89 inches today but a surplus is not the normal across most of Alabama. We don’t show a normal for Shelby County Airport but so far this year they have received 51.35 inches as compared to 46.20 at Birmingham Airport. So they are an estimated 7 inches above average. Here is a list of rain deficits so far this year:
11.51 inches at Tuscaloosa Airport
1.69 Anniston Airport (but they have received 41.39 so far compared to 16.19 last year)
12.28 Huntsville
13.49 Muscle Shoals
WOULD YOU BELIEVE? That since January 1, 2005 (less than four years ago) Huntsville has lost out on an amazing 73.42 inches of rain! In less than three years (since January 1, 2006) they have been shorted 56.06. that is a full year of rain that went missing in action! Cullman has been short-changed (or short-rained) 45.37 inches since 1/1/05!
This post is getting too long, so I will chop it off here. Had several more items. I may start posting this more than just one day a week but I don’t want to overdose readers with this type of material. Eventually, I will post the story about our never-to-be-forgotten trip in search of Rogers Pass, Montana where the coldest official temperature ever in the Lower 48 was recorded (70 below zero)
