Weather by the Numbers 4/7/09

* 56 elk were killed by a single bolt of lightning in Colorado on August 29, 2000. Some were over 100 feet from where the lightning bolt struck the ground. Yes, “lightning is frightening.”

* 36 inches is how deep the snow was that we had to fight our way through to get up a narrow canyon to the official observation site at Rogers Pass, Montana in the spring of 1954. During that winter, they had recorded the all-time low for the lower 48 of 70 below zero. We sank into the snow several times and had to dig ourselves out because we did not have snowshoes. We made the only photographs of the station in existence.

* 370 miles is the total pathway of tornadoes on the ground in Alabama during the Super Outbreak of April 3-4, 1974.

* 1,075 is how many homes were destroyed during that tragic night along with 723 farm buildings also totally destroyed.

* 6 is the number of F5 tornadoes in the entire outbreak, including two each in Alabama and Ohio.

* 15 tornadoes were on the ground at one time during that Super Outbreak.

* 10 inches is the new snow total atop Mt. LeConte in the Great Smoky Mountains this morning. All of that fell during the night and they were still getting snow this morning.

* 2 inches was how much snow accumulated at Cades Cove, but no measureable snow in Gatlinburg.

* 4 inches accumulated on Roan Mountain in extreme NE Tennessee and 2 inches at Mountain City.

* 99 inches is how deep the snow was this morning at Whittier, Alaska–down 5 inches during the last week. Nome has 67 inches. It will be interesting to see how long it takes all of that snow to melt.

* 93 was the hottest in the good old USA yesterday at Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.

* 2 was the coldest in the lower 48 this morning at Yellowstone Lake inside Yellowstone National Park.

* 2% is how many tornadoes in the USA, over a long period, are rated EF4 or EF5–the most violent. However, that 2% causes 70% of the deaths.

* 69% of all tornadoes are rated the weakest and they cause only 5% of the tornado deaths.

* 81.82 inches is how much rain Birmingham got in the year 1929. During that year, every river in Alabama flooded at one time or another.

* 38.09 inches is how much rain that fell on Elba in South Alabama in only four weeks between February 26 and March 26 (1929). At one time, the entire town of Elba was underwater.

* 200,000 chickens is how many that perished during the 1980 heat wave in Alabama.

* 5 is the number from the Dog’s 10 Commandments. It says, “Talk to me. Even if I don’t understand the words, I do understand your tone of voice when speaking to me.” Number 6, “Be aware that however you treat me, I will never forget it.”

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