Alabama Climate Report

Transcription

1 Alabama Climate Report Vol., No. 7 April Alabama Office of State Climatologist A month ago I wrote about arch and April being the most dangerous months of the year when it comes to deadly tornadoes. I was not trying to be prophetic. Today we are struggling to recover from last week s horrific tornadic outbreak. The EF-5 tornado that cut a swath through Northwestern Alabama and the EF-4 tornado that hit Tuscaloosa and Jefferson counties are now the two deadliest tornadoes in Alabama history. With search crews still looking for victims, the death toll for the Hackleburg/Phil Campbell tornado stands at 7, while the Tuscaloosa tornado killed at least 65 people, with more than, people injured. Both eclipse the arch, 9, tornado that killed 49 people and injured 5 between Perry County to Coosa County. Preliminary counts from April 7 are that the state was hit by 5 confirmed tornadoes. That includes the state s first EF-5 tornado in more than a decade. The media is reporting that the total death toll from the April 7 storms is 6, although that number may rise. That makes this Alabama s second deadliest storm system in history, trailing only the 68 people killed by tornadoes on arch, 9. No doubt, many lives were saved on April 7 by early warnings given by the National Weather Service and transferred to the public by the media. Almost forgotten, due to the extreme nature of the April 7 storms, are the tornadic storms that hit the state only two weeks earlier. The National Weather Service reported that tornadoes hit Alabama on April, killing at least eight people. In all, four rounds of severe weather including flooding, strong straight-line wind and powerful tornadoes hit Alabama in April. Unfortunately, Alabama s climate is such that outbreaks like the one on Continued on page April Alabama Climate Repor t Of fice of the Alabama Climatologist nsstc. uah. edu/ aosc/

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. April 7 are possible every few decades. The state sits in the zone where warm, moist air flowing north from the Gulf of exico meets and interacts with cold weather systems coming south and east from the Great Plains. One provides the energy, the other the trigger, and the boundary between the two different air flows a wind sheer that contributes to rotation. It is this combination that makes this a tornado-active region although less active in terms of raw numbers than tornado alley from North Texas to Nebraska. The outlook for ay is better, but we cannot relax: While the previous list of the state s 5 most deadly tornadoes included ten each from arch and April, three of the remaining five were in ay (884, 945 and 956). On another note, the northwestern half of Alabama has received significant rainfall since mid-arch and has been lifted out of drought status. But that blessing has not been distributed evenly: While Russellville had more than.5 inches of rain in April and several places in North Alabama had more than ten inches, Fairhope had less than one inch of rain for the entire month of April. obile had barely more than one inch and other places around Southeast Alabama saw below normal rainfall for the month. John R. Christy, Ph.D. Alabama State Climatologist University of Alabama in Huntsville john.christy@nsstc.uah.edu Bob Clymer Assistant State Climatologist bob.clymer@nsstc.uah.edu April Alabama Climate Repor t Of fice of the Alabama Climatologist nsstc. uah. edu/ aosc/

3 Alabama onthly Climate Summaries April April ean April Hi Temp April Low Temp Total Precip. Wettest April Heaviest Day April Norm Record Hi Record Lo Normal Prec. Driest April Record Day Anniston /9/ 9 4/7/55 5 4/6/ 7 4// /5/ 6.5 4/9/6 Auburn /;7/ 94 4//4 9 4/6/ 7 4// /7/ 5.5 4/8/64 Birmingham /9/ 9 4//87 8 4/6/ 6 4// /4/ 4.6 4//79 Brewton /9/ 95 4// /6/ 5 4/7/ /5/ 9.6 4/4/55 Calera /;4/ 9 4/4/6 8 4/6/ 5 4// /5/ 5. 4//79 Clanton /9/ 9 + 4// /6/ 6 4// /7/ 9. 4/8/8 Courtland /9/ 4.9 4/7/ /7/ Cullman /9/. 4/6/ /5/ Decatur /9/ 9 4/9/ /7/ 6 4/6/ /4/ 4.8 4/6/89 Dothan /;7/ 95 4//4 4 4/6/ 4// /4-5/ 4.5 4/6/7 Fairhope // 9 + 4// /6/ 4 4// /4/ 8. 4/5/96 Gadsden /9/ 9 + 4// /7/ 4/4/ /5/ 4.6 4//79 Gainesville /9/ 9 + 4/8/ /6/ 9 4// // //79 Greensboro /9/ 95 4// /6/ 8 + 4// /4/ /5/56 Guntersville /9/ 94 4/6/ /6/ 5 + 4// /5/ 5. 4/9/6 Highland Home // 94 4// // 4 4/4/ /4/ /7/64 Huntsville /9/ 9 4/6/67 8 4/6;7/ 5 4/7/ /7/.85 4/5/8 April Alabama Climate Repor t Of fice of the Alabama Climatologist nsstc. uah. edu/ aosc/

4 Alabama onthly Climate Summaries April April ean April Hi Temp April Low Temp Total Precip. Wettest April Heaviest Day April Norm Record Hi Record Lo Normal Prec. Driest April Record Day obile /;7/ 94 4//87 4 4/6/ 4/5/ /4/.6 4//55 ontgomery /9/ 9 + 4/5/88 8 4/6/ 8 4// /4/ /8/64 uscle Shoals /9/ 9 4// /7/ 7 4// /7/ 5.4 4/5/8 Russellville /9/ //. 4/7/ 4// /7/.85 4/6/8 Scottsboro /9/ 9 4//4.5 4/6/ + 4// /5/.7 4/9/6 Selma /7/ 9+ 4// /6/ 9 4// /4/ /8/8 Talladega // 9 4/8/55 4 4/6/ 4 + 4// /5/ 5.7 4/4/74 Thomasville /9/ 94 4// /6/ 7 4// /5/ //79 Troy /7/ 94 4// /6/ 9 4// /4/ 4.5 4/5/4 Tuscaloosa /9/ 94 4//87 6 4/6/ 9 4// /5/ //79 Valley Head /9/ /7/86.7 4/6/ 9 4// /5/ 4.8 4//6 Statewide Dothan.7 Valley Head 5.8. Clanton 5.4 Russellville ( sites) 9 Valley Head obile.6 obile : Data is missing or not available *New Record April Alabama Climate Repor t Of fice of the Alabama Climatologist nsstc. uah. edu/ aosc/

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) April 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 April Alabama Climate Repor t Of fice of the Alabama Climatologist nsstc. uah. edu/ aosc/ Normal April Precipitation* Abbeville Alex City Aliceville Andalusia Ashland Athens Bay inette Bessemer Billingsley Centreville Chatom Claiborne L&D. 4. Clayton Dauphin Isl Elba Eufaula WR 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 Vernon Warrior L&D Wetumpka *Southeast Regional Climate Center

6 New Local Climate Records April aximum High Temperature, Daily Period of New Previous Previous Record Record Record Tear April OBILE REGIOL AP April USCLE SHOALS AP ONTGOERY AP April USCLE SHOALS AP PINSON HUNTSVILLE INTL AP BIRINGHA AP ONTGOERY AP GADSDEN TROY UNICIPAL AP HAILTON S April GENEVA # BELLE I N GAINESVILLE LOCK ALEXANDER CITY CENTREVILLE 6 SW SCOTTSBORO SYLACAUGA 4 NE GUNTERSVILLE April EUFAULA WILDLIFE REF TUSCALOOSA UNI AP BIRINGHA AP April EUFAULA WILDLIFE REF April FAIRHOPE NE April GENEVA # April BANKHEAD L&D April Alabama Climate Repor t Of fice of the Alabama Climatologist nsstc. uah. edu/ aosc/

7 Precipitation, Daily Period of New Previous Previous Record Record Record Year 4 April FAYETTE in. in 957 HUNTSVILLE INTL AP in.65 in 989 TROY UNI AP in.58 in 5 April BELLE I N in.84 in 977 BERRY NW in.65 in 8 CARBON HILL 4SE in. in 977 HAILTON S in.7 in 8 RUSSELLVILLE # in.9 in 977 VERNON in. in 977 April ALICEVILLE L&D in.76 in 5 5 April ATHENS in.95 in 958 FAYETTE in. in 99 GADSDEN in. in 968 HUNTSVILLE INTL AP in.67 in 999 USCLE SHOALS AP in.9 in 994 TUSCALOOSA ACFD in.5 in 956 TUSCALOOSA UNI AP in.99 in April ADDISON in. in 994 BANKHEAD L&D in.8 in 994 BELLE I N in.7 in 954 BILLINGSLEY NE in.4 in 954 CARBON HILL in.4 in 954 CENTREVILLE 6 SW in.5 in 98 CLAIBORNE L&D in. in 954 CHILDERSBURG WTP in.46 in 994 HAILTON S in.9 in 97 HOLT L&D in.99 in 994 JACKSON in.5 in 994 JACKSONVILLE in.4 in 98 JASPER in.9 in 994 LEEDS in.8 in 994 ITCHELL DA in.9 in 956 OULTON in.94 in 97 PINE APPLE in. in 994 PLANTERSVILLE SSE in.4 in 954 SAND T SUBSTN in. in 994 T LOOSA OLIVER DA in.8 in 9 UNIONTOWN in. in 9 VALLEY HEAD in.68 in 956 VERNON in.74 in 97 WALLACE E in.5 in April BANKHEAD L&D in.66 in 97 HURTSBORO.... in. in April ALICEVILLE L&D.... in.68 in 995 BOAZ in.65 in 995 GUNTERSVILLE in.9 in 9 RUSSELLVILLE # in.5 in 966 WALNUT GROVE in.5 in 99 7 April BERRY NW in.46 in 5 HUNTSVILLE INTL AP in.4 in 964 OULTON in.5 in 964 USCLE SHOALS AP in.9 in 994 TUSCALOOSA UNI AP in.47 in 99 8 April BRIDGEPORT 5 NW in.7 in 96 OULTON in.5 in 96 PALERDALE in.69 in 99 ROCK ILLS in.7 in 966 Highest One-Day Precip., onth Period of New Previous Previous Record Record Record Date 8 April OULTON in.4 in 8/4/5 April Alabama Climate Repor t Of fice of the Alabama Climatologist nsstc. uah. edu/ aosc/

8 April Alabama Climate Repor t Of fice of the Alabama Climatologist nsstc. uah. edu/ aosc/