* 1988 brought a drought to the USA which became the costliest weather-related disaster in USA history–at least up until that time. Drought damage is more quiet unlike tornadoes and hurricanes.
* 5,000 t0 10,000 the number of heat-related deaths in that drought.
* $39.2 Billion was the damage total with less than 1/2 of that being crop losses. The rest was from 12.6 million acres being burned by wildfires.
* 10 percent is about the amount of North America being affected by drought in any given year.
* 799 is the average number of tornadoes in Canada and USA each year with the vast majority striking the United States.
* 97 percent of the world’s water is sea water.
* 2 percent is locked up in icecaps and glaciers.
* 2/5ths of the Lower 48 states is drained by the Mississippi River. Even rain that falls on Helena, Mont., and Extreme South Saskatchewan comes down the Mississippi and drains into the Gulf of Mexico through New Orleans. Also, most of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Western Pennsylvania sends water down the Mississippi. It is interesting that only a small part of Alabama drains through New Orleans (the part adjacent to the Tennessee River.)
* 2,350 miles is how far the most distant water has to travel down the Mississippi and its tributaries to reach New Orleans.
* 0.02 of an inch is the average annual rain for the northern Atacama Desert in Chile, making that the driest desert in the world.
* 3.5 million square miles is the size of the world’s hottest deserts. That is the Sahara in Africa. It is the world’s hottest desert.
* 5 million square miles is the size of the world’s largest desert. It is known as Antarctica. Most folks do not realize that that vast bitter cold region is a desert. Very little snow occurs there but what does fall usually does not melt.
* 0.96 of an inch is how much rain Atlanta Airport has received this month. They did not get a great deal of rain in this last event, much less than most of Alabama.
* 27.07 is their total for the year, a deficiency of 18.90 inches.
* 13.71 is the 2007 deficiency for Mobile. Their 3+ inches of rain in the last two days helped a great deal.
* 19.76 inches of rain was the SURPLUS as of today for Oklahoma City. They have received 53.48 inches this year which is about normal for the entire year for Birmingham. The average annual total for Oklahoma City is about 35 inches.
* 4 above zero was one of the coldest temperatures I could find late this afternoon in the Lower 48. It was at International Falls, Minnesota.
