Remembering The Summer Of 1980

James Spann | July 16, 2007 @ 10:18 pm | 16 Replies

Many of you know I started by Birmingham TV weather career in September 1979, during the same week that Hurricane Frederic slammed into the Alabama Gulf coast. What a way to start a TV career with a big tropical event like that. But the next summer would offer another major Alabama weather story that didnâ€™t get the big publicity like Hurricane Frederic, but was actually more deadly.

The blistering heat wave of 1980 would go down in the books as one of the hottest Alabama summers on record. In the month of July alone, there was an estimated 120 heat-related deaths along with the loss of more than 200,000 chickens and half the state’s corn crop. The hottest day of the summer was July 17th (27 years ago today), when over 80 percent of the state reached 100 degrees, and nearly one quarter of the state reached 105. The highest reading on that day was 108 degrees recorded in the cities of Bessemer, Aliceville, and Jasper.

Around the nation, the heat wave claimed anywhere between 1,250 and 10,000 lives. Also because of the massive drought, agricultural damage estimates neared $44 billion (1998 dollars). It is among the billion-dollar weather disasters listed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, high temperatures exceeded 100Â° for 69 days between June 23 and September 6. Dallas/Fort Worth reached an all-time high on June 26 and 27, soaring to 113Â° on both days. In the northern hemisphere summer of 1980 in Dallas/Fort Worth, there were 29 days that either tied or broke records for those respective dates. Wichita Falls, Texas would hit 119Â°F, the second-highest temperature ever recorded in Texas.

I was working for WAPI-TV (Channel 13, now WVTM-TV) in the summer of 1980, and we went from having fun with the heat when it started (live shots from the meat locker of a local supermarket) to having to cover a serious news story that was responsible for a serious threat to life in Alabama. Memories of the summer of 1980 make me really appreciate the â€œcoolâ€ daytime temps we have enjoyed lately!

(thanks to the NWS for the data for this piece)

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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.