Alabama Climate Report

Transcription

1 Alabama Climate Report Vol., No. 8 ay Alabama Office of State Climatologist When we have our first hot spell of the spring or summer I can count on people asking, Is this going to be a hot summer? This is especially the case when the hot spell follows a cold period, such as the one that set record lows in Alabama in mid-ay (see table below). The truth is, no one knows if this will be a hot summer or not because we have no skill at predicting how atmospheric pressure patterns will set up. As ay ended and June began, the Southeastern U.S. was locked under an intense, warm high-pressure system that brought record or near record temperatures to Alabama cities. This sweltering region goes from Texas (with devastating drought) to Georgia. At the same time, in the western U.S. some ski resorts are bragging about staying open through the July 4 weekend because there has been so much snow and persistent cold weather. Sometimes weather patterns become relatively fixed. This year there has been a strong tendency for low pressure to sit off the west coast, with high pressure from Texas along the Gulf and a stormy low pressure area in the Ohio Valley. When such patterns become somewhat immobile, so to do the storms associated with low pressure areas. The Ohio Valley had tremendous snow and rain this winter and spring, the results of which are flowing through the lower ississippi River. Along the southern edge of those storms, i.e. northern Alabama, is where the strongest air mass contrasts occurred. This sets up conditions for violent weather. As summer approaches and the general pattern shifts northward, the drought that developed this winter and spring in south Alabama is now in the Extreme category, with many streams nearing record low values. Statewide rainfall averaged about onethird of normal in ay, while both Dothan and Gadsden set records for the driest ay. We are watching this situation closely because it is quite serious. In somewhat of an irony, we ve missed out on tropical storms for five years now. It could well be our turn for a drought-quenching but propertydamaging hurricane. Continued on page

2 The lawnand-garden moisture index measures the capacity of current soil moisture to sustain healthy lawns and gardens. The index is computed by estimating how much precipitation in the past three weeks contributes to current soil moisture. That rainfall is compared to a standard amount of rainfall considered to be adequate for that time of year to sustain healthy lawns and gardens. The difference is the lawn-andgarden moisture index. There is one other thing that concerns me however. I ve been assembling and processing summer temperature data for Alabama s four largest metro areas: Huntsville, Birmingham, ontgomery and obile. I read through paper forms since the 89s for dozens of stations (one per month for each station). I ve finished Huntsville s record and am close on Birmingham and ontgomery. They all show that since the 89s the overall trend of afternoon summertime high temperatures is downward. But that s not the whole story. If you are less than 55 years old, the recent summers have been (to you) the hottest ever, with the three hottest by far being 6, 7 and. I m concerned because our generation has become accustomed to summer activities in what the data (see graph on page 8) shows has been a cool period since 955 (if summer in Alabama can ever be considered cool ). Recently, however, we ve seen a return to the normal of the pre- 955 climate. I wonder how we will cope if the persistent heat and droughts of those years returns, especially a year like 9 in which some Alabama stations saw high temperatures hit F. Some folks like it hot and many businesses do quite well the hotter it gets, but let s keep an eye on history and make sure we are prepared if a decade like the 9 s happens to visit us again. Stay cool. John R. Christy, Ph.D. Alabama State Climatologist University of Alabama in Huntsville john.christy@nsstc.uah.edu

3 Alabama onthly Climate Summaries ay ay ean ay Hi Temp ay Low Temp Total Precip. Wettest ay Heaviest Day ay Norm Record Hi Record Lo Normal Prec. Driest ay Record Day Anniston /-/ 98 5/6/6 9 5/5/ 4 5//6 * /-4/. 5/9/8 Auburn // 98 5/7/9 4 5/5/ 5 5// // 4.5 5/7/5 Birmingham /-/ 99 5/8/6 44 5/8/ 6 5/4/ /-/.85 5/6/67 Brewton // 5/6/ 4.4 5/8/ 4 5/4/ // //95 Calera // 98 5//6 4 5/8/ 5// //.65 5// Clanton /5// // /5/ 5// /6/.75 5//46 Courtland // 8.5 5/5/.6.6 5// Cullman // 6. 5/5/ // Decatur // //4 4 5/5/ 4 5// /-/.5 5/9/9 Dothan // 4 5//7 47 5/5;8/ 44 5/5/54 * /-4/ 4. 5//9 Fairhope // 98 5/7/5 9 5/8/ 4 5// // //8 Gadsden // 99 5/4/7 4 5/5/ 5// /6/. 5//67 Gainesville // 97 5// /5/ 8 5/5/ // 5. 5//78 Greensboro // /4/ /8/ 7 + 5// /6/ 4. 5/8/ Guntersville // 99 5/7/ /4/ 6 5// /6/ 4.7 5//97 Highland Home // 98 5// /5/ 4 5// // /4/78 Huntsville // 96 5//96 4 5/5/ 6 5// // /6/8

4 Alabama onthly Climate Summaries ay ay ean ay Hi Temp ay Low Temp Total Precip. Wettest ay Heaviest Day ay Norm Record Hi Record Lo Normal Prec. Driest ay Record Day obile // + 5/7/5 44 5/8/ 4 5// /6/ /5/8 ontgomery // 98 5/7/5 4 5/8/ 4 5/4/ /6/ 5. 5/9/78 uscle Shoals // 99 5/9/ /5/ 6 + 5/4/ //. 5/7/8 Russellville // /7/ 5.6 5/5/ + 5/4/ // 6. 5/8/84 Scottsboro // 97 5/9/ /5/ 5/4/ /6/ 5. 5//97 Selma // 5/7/5 4. 5/8/ 4 5/7/ /4/.4 5/4/57 Talladega // /5/96 9 5/5/ 5/4/ // 5. 5/9/8 Thomasville /9/ 99 5//7 9. 5/8/ 6 5// // 5.7 5//4 Troy /-/ 99 5//7 8 5/5/ 8 5/4/ /-4/ /6/5 Tuscaloosa // 98 5//5 4 5/4-5/ 6 5/4/ //.9 5//58 Valley Head // /9/6 4. 5/5/ 9 + 5/4/ /6/ 4.9 5//97 Statewide Dothan 4 Gadsden Russellville. ontgomery 7. 4 Dothan 9 + Valley Head Selma 7.96 obile : Data is missing or not available *New Record

5 Autauga Baldwin Barbour Bibb Blount Bullock Butler Calhoun Chambers Cherokee Chilton Choctaw Clarke Clay Cleburne Coffee Colbert Conecuh Coosa Covington Crenshaw Cullman Dale Dallas DeKalb Elmore Escambia Etowah Fayette Franklin Geneva Greene Hale Henry Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network (CoCoRAHS) ay Ave. Total Precip. # Stations Ave. Total Precip. # Stations Houston Jackson Jefferson Lamar Lauderdale Lawrence Lee Limestone Lowndes acon adison arengo arion arshall obile onroe ontgomery organ Perry Pickens Pike Randolph Russell St. Clair Shelby Sumter Talladega Tallapoosa Tuscaloosa Walker Washington Wilcox Winston Normal ay Precipitation* Abbeville Alex City Aliceville....8 Andalusia Ashland Athens Bay inette Bessemer Billingsley Centreville Chatom Claiborne L&D. 4.9 Clayton Dauphin Isl Elba Eufaula WR....7 Evergreen Fayette Geneva Greenville Haleyville Hamilton S Heflin Hurtsboro Jasper Lafayette Livingston elvin ilstead oulton Oneonta Perryville Pine Apple Plantersville Rock ills Rockford Sylacauga Union Springs Uniontown....7 Vernon Warrior L&D Wetumpka *Southeast Regional Climate Center

6 New Local Climate Records ay aximum High Temperature, Daily Record Record Record Tear 5 ay EUFAULA WR ay CLAYTON FAYETTE RUSSELLVILLE # ay RUSSELLVILLE # ay CLAYTON BAY INETTE ay GENEVA # ay EUFAULA WR ENTERPRISE 4 W GENEVA # SAND T SUBSTN ay GADSDEN ay CLAYTON GENEVA # ANNISTON ETRO AP TUSCALOOSA UNI AP BANKHEAD LOCK & DA RUSSELLVILLE # ay ENTERPRISE 4 W HEADLAND HUNTSVILLE INTL AP GENEVA # BIRINGHA AP RUSSELLVILLE # PINSON Precipitation, Daily Record Record Record Year 5 ay ALICEVILLE L&D in.4 in ay PINSON in.76 in ay HAILTON S in.6 in 976 JONES BLUFF L&D....4 in.78 in 99 HOLT LOCK & DA.... in.9 in 987 ENTERPRISE 4 W in.8 in 999 ALICEVILLE L&D in.45 in 99 6 ay ONTGOERY AP in.98 in 9 BERRY NW in. in 94 TALLAPOOSA WTP.... in.9 in 9 7 ay DEOPOLIS L&D in. in 98 ay BAY INETTE in.65 in 997 inimum Low Temperature, onth Record Record Record Date 6 ay CENTREVILLE 6 SW /5/4 8 ay TROY UNICIPAL AP /5/7 aximum High Temperature, onth Record Record Record Date ay EUFAULA WILDLIFE REF /5/6 ay GENEVA # /5/

7 inimum Low Temperature, Daily Record Record Record Year 5 ay OULTON CENTREVILLE 6 SW ALEXANDER CITY HUNTSVILLE INTL AP WETUPKA DAUPHIN IS # ay CENTREVILLE 6 SW GAINESVILLE LOCK GREENVILLE OBILE RGNL AP OBILE DOWNTOWN AP DAUPHIN IS # ay CENTREVILLE 6 SW TROY UNICIPAL AP ay CENTREVILLE 6 SW ay WETUPKA ay BREWTON ENE OBILE REGIOL AP OBILE DWTN AP FAIRHOPE NE DAUPHIN ISLAND # ay CLAYTON ROBERTSDALE GENEVA # OBILE REGIOL AP BREWTON ENE BAY INETTE CODEN ONTGOERY AP OBILE DWTN AP DAUPHIN ISLAND # ay OPELIKA CENTREVILLE 6 SW PINSON ANNISTON ETRO AP BREWTON SSE CLAYTON BESSEER WSW ALEXANDER CITY ONTGOERY AP THORSBY EXP STN EVERGREEN ENTERPRISE 4 W TUSCALOOSA UNI AP ATORE FAIRHOPE NE ROBERTSDALE SELA CODEN OBILE DWTN AP BAY INETTE DOTHAN AP DAUPHIN ISLAND # ay CENTREVILLE 6 SW GENEVA # OPELIKA BREWTON SSE GREENVILLE GAINESVILLE LOCK SELA CLAYTON CODEN FAIRHOPE NE ROBERTSDALE

8 JJA Huntsville Area Average Tax (6 Stations total since 89)