Vindicated! The 91F at Birmingham Today Is the Latest 90 Degree Reading on Record.

Yesterday, I posted that Birmingham had achieved its latest 90 degree reading ever when the 5 minute data at the Birmingham Airport showed a temperature of 90F.

It turns out the 5 minute data from the airport converts the already rounded Celsius temperature observation to Fahrenheit. So the actual observation was 31.7C, which is actually 89 degrees in Fahrenheit. The observation rounds this to 32C, which converts to 90F. So it only made it up to 89F officially yesterday.

Consequently, I had to retract my post yesterday afternoon. But I knew there was a chance we would do it today.

And today there was no doubt. The official high was 91F. This is not only a record for the date, as Brian noted earlier, but the warmest ever so late in the year and the latest 90F reading ever at Birmingham.

Before today, the latest 90F reading was on October 17, 1897.

Record highs were established today at Tuscaloosa and Anniston as well with 91F and 90F respectively. The record for today at both locations was 89F. Montgomery has gotten in on the act with a new record for the date with 91F.

Tomorrow’s records are probably safe at Birmingham, Tuscaloosa and Anniston. The hottest we have ever been on October 20th in Birmingham is 88F back in 1941. We are only calling for a high of 85F tomorrow. The National Weather Service’s National Digital Forecast Database output for tomorrow is calling for 85F. At Montgomery, is calling for 89F, which would establish a new record there. Here are the expected records based on the NDFD tomorrow:

Category: Alabama's Weather