Alabama Climate Report Vol
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Alabama Climate Report Vol. 1, No. 7 Alabama Office of State Climatologist The University of Alabama in Huntsville April 2011 A month ago I wrote about March at least 65 people, with more than 1,000 No doubt, many lives were saved on and April being the most dangerous people injured. April 27 by early warnings given by the months of the year when it comes to Both eclipse the March 21, 1932, National Weather Service and transferred deadly tornadoes. I was not trying to be tornado that killed 49 people and injured to the public by the media. prophetic. 150 between Perry County to Coosa Almost forgotten, due to the extreme Today we are struggling to recover County. nature of the April 27 storms, are the from last week’s horrific tornadic out- Preliminary counts from April 27 are tornadic storms that hit the state only break. that the state was hit by 35 confirmed two weeks earlier. The National Weather The EF-5 tornado that cut a swath tornadoes. That includes the state’s first Service reported that 30 tornadoes hit through Northwestern Alabama and the EF-5 tornado in more than a decade. Alabama on April 11, killing at least EF-4 tornado that hit Tuscaloosa and Jef- The media is reporting that the total eight people. In all, four rounds of severe ferson counties are now the two deadliest death toll from the April 27 storms is weather including flooding, strong tornadoes in Alabama history. 236, although that number may rise. That straight-line wind and powerful tornadoes With search crews still looking for makes this Alabama’s second deadliest hit Alabama in April. victims, the death toll for the Hackle- storm system in history, trailing only the Unfortunately, Alabama’s climate burg/Phil Campbell tornado stands at 268 people killed by tornadoes on March is such that outbreaks like the one on 70, while the Tuscaloosa tornado killed 21, 1932. Continued on page 2 April 2011 Alabama Climate Report • Office of the Alabama Climatologist • http://nsstc.uah.edu/aosc/ The University of Alabama in Huntsville The lawn- April 27 are possible every few decades. and-garden moisture The state sits in the zone where warm, index moist air flowing north from the Gulf measures the capacity of Mexico meets and interacts with cold of current weather systems coming south and east soil moisture to sustain from the Great Plains. healthy One provides the energy, the other lawns and gardens. the trigger, and the boundary between The index is the two different air flows a wind sheer computed by estimating that contributes to rotation. how much It is this combination that makes precipitation in the past this a tornado-active region — although three weeks less active in terms of raw numbers than contributes “tornado alley” from North Texas to to current soil mois- Nebraska. ture. That The outlook for May is better, but rainfall is compared to we cannot relax: While the previous list a “standard” of the state’s 25 most deadly tornadoes amount of rainfall con- included ten each from March and April, sidered to three of the remaining five were in May be adequate for that time (1884, 1945 and 1956). of year to On another note, the northwestern sustain healthy half of Alabama has received significant lawns and rainfall since mid-March and has been gardens. The differ- lifted out of drought status. But that ence is the blessing has not been distributed evenly: lawn-and- garden While Russellville had more than 12.5 moisture inches of rain in April and several places index. in North Alabama had more than ten inches, Fairhope had less than one inch of rain for the entire month of April. Mo- bile 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 [email protected] Bob Clymer Assistant State Climatologist [email protected] April 2011 Alabama Climate Report • Office of the Alabama Climatologist • http://nsstc.uah.edu/aosc/ The University of Alabama in Huntsville Alabama Monthly Climate Summaries April 2011 April Mean April Hi Temp April Low Temp Total Precip. Wettest April Heaviest Day April Norm Record Hi Record Lo Normal Prec. Driest April Record Day 64.7° 87° 4/9/11 35° 4/6/11 5.17” 17.30” 1979 2.26” 4/15/11 Anniston 61.7° 93° 4/17/55 27° 4/1/87 4.87” .17” 1986 6.15” 4/29/63 68.0° 88° 4/22;27/11 39° 4/6/11 1.52” 17.66” 1964 .60” 4/27/11 Auburn 64.0° 94° 4/30/42 27° 4/13/40 4.92” .50” 1915 5.15” 4/8/64 66.3° 89° 4/9/11 38° 4/6/11 5.45” 13.75” 1979 1.49” 4/4/11 Birmingham 61.3° 92° 4/21/87 26° 4/11/73 4.67” .42” 1986 4.61” 4/12/79 68.0° 87.6° 4/9/11 35.6° 4/6/11 3.84” 11.13” 1975 1.76” 4/15/11 Brewton 63.5° 95° 4/30/43 25° 4/7/50 4.50” .50” 1981 9.60” 4/14/55 66.0° 85° 4/11;24/11 38° 4/6/11 3.64” 18.32” 1979 .90” 4/15/11 Calera 62.4° 90° 4/24/60 25° 4/11/73 5.15” .10” 1925 5.33” 4/13/79 65.3° 86.4° 4/9/11 35.6° 4/6/11 5.65” 22.00” 1979 2.00” 4/27/11 Clanton 61.3° 93°+ 4/30/43 26° 4/13/40 5.43” .12” 1986 9.00” 4/8/38 64.0° 87.4° 4/9/11 34.9° 4/17/11 10.96” M 4.4” 4/27/11 Courtland M M M M M M 62.8° 84.7° 4/9/11 31.3° 4/6/11 9.76” M 3.73” 4/15/11 Cullman M M M M M M 64.4° 89° 4/9/11 37° 4/17/11 7.62” 13.57” 1911 2.18” 4/4/11 Decatur 61.6° 92° 4/29/1899 26° 4/6/1898 4.50” .58” 1930 4.38” 4/6/1892 69.8° 90° 4/23;27/11 42° 4/6/11 3.75” 10.32” 1944 1.59” 4/4-5/11 Dothan 67.3° 95° 4/30/42 31° 4/13/40 4.11” .54” 1967 4.25” 4/6/37 68.8° 85.3° 4/20/11 35.1° 4/6/11 .94” 13.53” 1980 .72” 4/4/11 Fairhope 65.9° 91°+ 4/23/87 34° 4/11/73 4.53” .11” 1999 8.31” 4/15/96 61.7° 82.4° 4/9/11 34.2° 4/17/11 7.00” 12.65” 1979 2.22” 4/15/11 Gadsden 60.3° 91°+ 4/30/87 22° 4/4/87 5.21” .57” 1986 4.60” 4/13/79 66.5° 87.6° 4/9/11 38.3° 4/6/11 3.83” 18.41” 1979 1.09” 4/21/11 Gainesville 61.6° 92°+ 4/28/87 29° 4/1/87 5.37” .34” 1976 7.55” 4/13/79 66.8° 87.4° 4/9/11 37.4° 4/6/11 4.52” 12.37” 1979 1.28” 4/4/11 Greensboro 63.9° 95° 4/30/43 28°+ 4/3/92 5.33” .59” 1987 4.46” 4/5/56 64.5° 85.6° 4/9/11 36.7° 4/6/11 10.22” 10.45” 1979 3.18” 4/15/11 Guntersville 59.2° 94° 4/26/86 25°+ 4/3/92 4.81” .77” 1986 5.01” 4/29/63 67.6° 84.9° 4/22/11 40.6° 4/1/11 1.87” 9.89” 1979 1.55” 4/4/11 Highland Home 62.9° 94° 4/23/87 24° 4/4/87 4.39” .43” 1986 7.57” 4/27/64 64.5° 89° 4/9/11 38° 4/6;17/11 10.11” 12.55” 1964 3.50” 4/27/11 Huntsville 61.3° 92° 4/16/67 25° 4/7/07 4.60” .42” 1986 3.85” 4/5/83 April 2011 Alabama Climate Report • Office of the Alabama Climatologist • http://nsstc.uah.edu/aosc/ The University of Alabama in Huntsville Alabama Monthly Climate Summaries April 2011 April Mean April Hi Temp April Low Temp Total Precip. Wettest April Heaviest Day April Norm Record Hi Record Lo Normal Prec. Driest April Record Day 70.5° 86° 4/23;27/11 41° 4/6/11 1.02” 15.43” 1980 .57” 4/4/11 Mobile 66.1° 94° 4/21/87 32° 4/5/87 5.06” .08” 1999 13.36” 4/13/55 67.9° 89° 4/9/11 38° 4/6/11 3.16” 11.50” 1983 1.66” 4/4/11 Montgomery 64.3° 91°+ 4/5/88 28° 4/1/87 4.38” .52” 1986 4.54” 4/8/64 63.6° 86.9° 4/9/11 35.6° 4/17/11 10.18” 12.81” 1983 3.52” 4/27/11 Muscle Shoals 60.6° 92° 4/30/87 27° 4/11/89 4.43” .36” 1986 5.34” 4/5/83 63.4° 87.3° 4/9/11 32.2° 4/17/11 12.58” 14.00” 1991 5.43” 4/27/11 Russellville 58.0° 89°+ 4/11/01 22° 4/11/73 4.97” .57” 1986 3.85” 4/6/83 62.4° 86.9° 4/9/11 32.5° 4/6/11 10.50” 9.57” 2000 3.26” 4/15/11 Scottsboro 58.7° 92° 4/30/43 23°+ 4/3/92 4.52” 1.22” 1976 3.72” 4/29/63 66.8° 88.5° 4/27/11 35.4° 4/6/11 2.88” 10.02” 1973 1.51” 4/4/11 Selma 63.5° 93+° 4/22/87 29° 4/13/40 4.33” .22” 1986 8.74” 4/8/38 64.6° 87.4° 4/10/11 34° 4/6/11 5.69” 18.27” 1979 2.05” 4/15/11 Talladega 59.8° 92° 4/18/55 24°+ 4/3/92 4.80” .35” 1986 5.72” 4/4/74 67.3° 86.9° 4/9/11 35.6° 4/6/11 2.71” 12.02” 1979 1.09” 4/15/11 Thomasville 64.1° 94° 4/22/87 27° 4/13/40 4.64” .49” 1987 5.47” 4/3/79 66.8° 88° 4/27/11 34.7° 4/6/11 1.24” 8.41” 1979 .97” 4/4/11 Troy 63.4° 94° 4/30/42 29° 4/13/40 4.25” .73” 1986 4.52” 4/15/34 66.5° 88° 4/9/11 36° 4/6/11 7.18” 14.41” 1979 2.42” 4/15/11 Tuscaloosa 63.9° 94° 4/21/87 29° 4/1/87 5.10” .30” 1987 6.44” 4/12/79 61.4° 84.2° 4/9/11 30.7° 4/6/11 6.87” 10.08” 1979 2.83” 4/15/11 Valley Head 55.9° 88°+ 4/27/86 19° 4/3/92 4.73” 1.10” 1976 4.18” 4/30/63 Statewide 68.30° 90° Dothan 30.7° Valley Head 5.38” 22.0” Clanton 5.43” Russellville 64.53° 95° (3 sites) 19° Valley Head 4.75” 0.08” Mobile 13.36” Mobile M: Data is missing or not available *New Record April 2011 Alabama Climate Report • Office of the Alabama Climatologist • http://nsstc.uah.edu/aosc/ The University of Alabama in Huntsville Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network (CoCoRAHS) April 2011 Normal Ave.