Thinking Of Summer

James Spann | April 23, 2009 @ 5:43 pm | 7 Replies

Today’s warmth has many people thinking about summer. Birmingham’s official high was 88 degrees; 12 degrees above the average high of 76, and within 2 degrees of the record high of 90 for April 23 (set way back in 1896). It is interesting note the average high in Birmingham is 88 degrees from June 15 through June 20, so no wonder summer is on our mind.
While the official arrival of summer this year is on June 21; us weather people consider summer (“meteorological summer”) from the first day of June through the last day of August. Here in Alabama, the heat usually peaks at the end of July and the beginning of August, when our average high is 91 and the average low is 70. Of course, we all know it gets hotter than that; those are just averages. The hottest temperature on record in Birmingham is 107, recorded on July 29, 1930.

Summer also means little major day to day change in the weather conditions here, with the primary storm track positioned well to the north of Alabama. Each day is hot and humid, and on a daily basis we have some risk of an afternoon thunderstorm during the peak of the heat; the storms tend to pop up in rather random locations, and are usually widely separated. It is almost impossible to tell people where the storms will pop up in the daily forecast; we just have to say a chance of “scattered, mainly afternoon and evening showers or thunderstorms”. The summer forecasts are not the most exciting in the world.

Summer also brings the beginning of the hurricane season for the Atlantic basin. Hurricane season runs from the first day of June through the last day of November, but the peak of the season comes during August, September, and the first two weeks of October. That is when sea surface temperatures tend to peak. Most of the really major rain events we see here in Alabama during the summer come from tropical systems. Even tropical depressions can bring heavy rain and the threat of flooding to the state.

So, get ready… the lazy, hazy days of summer are getting closer.

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James Spann is one of the most recognized and trusted television meteorologists in the industry. He holds the AMS CCM designation and television seals from the AMS and NWA. He is a past winner of the Broadcast Meteorologist of the Year from both professional organizations.