WEATHER BY THE NUMBERS–04/05/07

* 14 was the low temperature atop Mt. LeConte in the Great Smoky Mountains this morning.

* 9 to 20 is the low temperature range forecast for the Great Smoky Mountains Saturday night and Easter morning. The colder temperatures, of course, will be in the high country.

* 18.6% is how much of the lower 48 states was covered by snow this morning.

* 34.6% was the snow cover on this same date last month.

* 16 is the number of inches of fresh snow that fell at Calumet, Michigan overnight.

* 166 is how many inches of snow were on the ground at Blind Bull Summit this morning. I am not sure if that is located in the high country of Washington or Wyoming, but it is one of those high elevation locations where the NWS gets automated reports. (Don’t you love that name?)

* 100 was the high in Death Valley, California yesterday. I believe that is the first 100 reported so far this year in the USA.

* 0 was the lowest in the 48 states this morning at Grand Marais, Michigan and Wadena, Minnesota. That means there was exactly a 100-degree range in temperature in the last 24 hours across the lower 48.

* 20 below zero was the coldest in Alaska this morning at Umiat.

* 36 below zero is the coldest temperature ever recorded in the USA during the month of April. It happened at Eagle Nest, New Mexico on this date in 1945. Eagle Nest is located in a beautiful area of extreme Northern New Mexico on State Route 38 and only about 15 miles east of 13,160 foot Wheeler Peak. This area is NE of Taos.

* 1 is how many horses became airborne during the violent Smithfield tornado that moved across NW Birmingham 30 years ago yesterday. It happened on April 4, 1977. Amazingly, the horse (actually a pony) was found some distance away wandering feebily, but her eyesight was gone. Even more amazingly, she successfully delivered her foal later. The foal was promptly named “Tornado 77.”

* 265 schools in Birmingham and Jefferson County were delivered the tornado warning that afternoon by tone alert by the Birmingham Civil Defense Director, Sadie Morgado.

* 1 is how many occupied pickup trucks was rolled over and over when the tornado moved across and finally came to rest right side up. Every inch of the truck was dented butthe driver was not badly injured.

* 2 is how many heavy dump trucks the tornado lifted into the air and dumped later off the Smithfield ridge.

* 300 yards was the furthest the tornado could be seen because the sky was so black.

* 1 is how many school buses became airborne during the violent Smithfield tornado. Fortunately, it was vacant and parked.

* 45,000 feet is how high Dr. Ted Fujita was flying that afternoon in a private jet as he was chasing the parent thunderstorm. He was near the top of that tornado-producing thunderstorm taking photographs at precise points.

* 1:50 p.m. was the time that we issued a strongly worded severe weather statement on the Alabma weather wire and NOAA Weather Radio from the NWS. It said, in part, “Very heavy thunderstorms are now moving into the greater Birmingham area. A Severe Thunderstorm Warning remains in effect. This may have to be upgraded to a Tornado Warning at any minute. Radar indicates that the strongest thunderstorm in the line will apparently hit the Birmingham area. They are visible on radar as far away as Mobile. Intense rainfall will cause flash flooding also in the next few minutes to an hour.”

* 20 to 30 seconds is how long a witness said the ground vibrated due to the great intensity of that tornado. Maxine Dowdell, who was the owner of the pony, was the one that said the ground shook. She and her husband rode out the tornado in a homemade shelter that they had prepared in a culvert right by their home. They heard the warning on WYDE Radio and immediately crawled in the culvert, which they had made a little more comfortable by laying down some carpet. Their home, only about 30 yards away across the street, was reduced to rubble.

* 18,498,000 is the 2005 population count for the New York City urban area. That simply blows my little 5-ounce brain. The population of My Tiny Corner of the world by comparison is only 70, 71 if we count Little Miss Molly as a human and she sure thinks she is.

* 17,388,000 is the number of square miles of land in Asia. It is the largest continent in the world–almost twice as large as North America.

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