Rainfall Totals from January

January 2014 will be remembered for the very cold air that occurred most of the month as the amplified pattern, with a ridge in the West and trough in the East, allowed such cold air all the way down to the Gulf Coast. That pattern essentially shut down our main source of moisture, the Gulf of Mexico. January 2014, for the most part was a dry month compared to the average January.

As we look at the rainfall totals calculated by the great folks at the National Weather Service, we see that most locations across the state received one and a half to four inches of rain. The highest total I could find for the state was 4.44″ on Dauphin Island. In Central Alabama, the highest total recorded was 4.23″ in central Shelby County.

Though most locations did see a fair amount of rain, because of the pattern we had much of the month, many locations actually had a deficit for rainfall in January. The larger cities of Tuscaloosa, Anniston, Gadsden, Birmingham, and Montgomery, all had rainfall deficits for January, with a range of one to four inches below normal.

Category: Alabama's Weather