Weather By The Numbers 2/16/09

Some of this is probably News You Can’t Use. Tis just for fun!

* 22 inches is how much snow Houston was buried under on February 14-15, 1895. (Be sure and scroll down and read Bill’s excellent story about this historic snowstorm)

* 15 inches of snow fell on Galveston! (Can you imagine!) There was 6 inches at Mobile. 24 inches accumulated at Rayne, La., almost twice as much as Birmingham got in the Blizzard of ’93. Rayne is in South Louisiana along I-10 west of Lafayette.

* 37.52 inches was all the rain that Auburn received during the year 1885. Only 1.24 inches fell in the first two months and January and February are supposed to be wet months. Greensboro received exactly 5 inches in the first four months and just 10.79 the first six months. I bring this up to illustrate that Alabama has suffered through occasional severe droughts throughout the years. These records from the old Alabama Weather Service and Signal Corps that preceded the U.S. Weather Bureau and later the National Weather Service.

* 7 winters in a row is how many that Birmingham received measurable snow starting with the winter of 1909-1910. Don’t ever give up on snow.

* 23 below zero was the coldest in Alaska this morning at Savoonga. Was it about a month ago that it was 68 below at Chicken, Alaska? (Gotta love that name!) Lately, there has been no (super) (bitter) (scary) (mosquito killing) cold in the biggest state.

* 54 inches of snow on the ground at Valdez, Alaska this morning. 37 inches at Whittier and 43 inches at Nome.

* 205 inches is how much snow Valdez has received so far this season.

* 2.51 inches of rain at San Francisco Airport in the last 24 hours. Flash Flood Watch for a number of counties in Southern California including L.A.

* 189 is the latest death toll in the Australian wild fires that started on February 7. The fires were so explosive that people burned to death trying to outrun the fires. Some are suspected to be arson. At least one person under arrest but he wants to remain locked up for his personal safety. Coward.

* 62 below zero was the temperature this morning at Ojmjakon, Siberia. That city bills itself as the coldest continuously inhabited place in the world. Not sure I would like that kind of publicity. There are several towns along the Lower Colorado River separating Arizona and California that like it when they are listed in the national temperature and precipitation tables as the hottest for that day. Free publicity.

* 150 million is how many people that are on Facebook according to the current edition of TIME Magazine. Facebook was started five years ago by several Harvard students. I signed up Friday and I have been astounded at the response, now hooked in with 205 people. Also have 260 on Twitter. Whatever happened to the old crank-operated telephone, the one-cent postcard and the three-cent postage stamp? Would you believe that Tim Coleman still uses an old-fashioned rotary phone!

* 50 to 100 is the average number of lightning strikes every second around this old world!

* 2 to 3 miles long is the average length of most lightning bolts. They can produce up to 100 million volts.

* 12 miles is about how far you can hear thunder even in quite outdoor conditions. Yes, lightning is frightening.

* 1748 was one winter so severe that the Mississippi River at New Orleans was frozen 30 to 40 feet from the shore.

* 4 cups is all the coffee I have had so far today. Running behind. No pop tart in several months.

FINAL THOUGHT: Please don’t tailgate but DO use your turn indicators (at least some of the time)

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