Weather by the Numbers

* 186 days is how many that the state of California had either the hottest in the USA or the lowest outside of Alaska. That was in 1992. They had the hottest on 148 days and the coldest on 38 days. On a few days, they had both extremes.

* 2 times (in fact, over twice) as many visitors visit the Great Smoky Mountain National Park each year compared to the number 2 which is Grand Canyon National Park.

* 9 inches is the snow depth on Mt. Mitchell, North Carolina, which includes 6 new inches in the last 24 hours. The low this morning was 18. The elevation is 6,240 feet. The low on Grandfather Mountain was 21 with 8 inches of snow on the ground.

* 5 is how many hurricane names were retired in the 2005 season, which is a record. The names were Dennis, Katrina, Rita, Stan and Wilma. The previous record was 4 names in 1955, 1995 and 2004.

* 9.5 inches is the average annual snow amount for Oklahoma City. They get an average of 35.85 inches of precipitation.

* 102 inches is the average annual precipitation atop Mt. Washington, New Hampshire. That includes 260 inches of snow.

* 76 inches of snow fell in only 24 hours at Silver Lake, Colorado on April 14-15 in 1921.

*390 is how many inches of snow fell at Tamarack, California in only 1 month in January 1911.

* 317 is how many people were killed in a violent tornado on May 6, 1840 at Natchez, Mississippi. The tornado crossed the Mississippi River and plowed into the town. It is the second largest number of deaths in a single tornado in the USA.

* 162 is how many days in a row that the temperature exceeded 100 at Marble Bar, Australia from October 30, 1923 to April 7, 1924. That is a world record.

* 1st name on the 2010 hurricane season will be Alex (named after my grandson). Bonnie, Colin, Danielle and Earl complete the first five names. Walter is the last one on the 2010 list. Let’s hope and pray that we do not hear that name.

* 6.10 inches is the average annual precipitation in Baghdad. That compares to 54 inches in Birmingham. Those two cities are approximately at the same latitude. Cairo gets only 1 inch of precipitation per year.

* 1/4 of 1 percent of the USA would be covered if you overlaid a map of Israel on the USA. It would cover only a narrow strip between Topeka and Tulsa.

* 39 degrees is the temperature when water is the most dense. It is less dense above or below 39.

* 1.75 inches is the current 2010 rain deficiency for Birmingham Airport. Not to worry. If you count all of 2009, we still have plenty.

* 22 below zero was the coldest in the lower 48 this morning at International Falls, Minnesota near the Canadian border. They still have 19 inches of snow on the ground. Diluth has 25 inches.

* 40 below zero was the coldest in Canada this morning at Chandalar Lake.

* 55 inches is how much snow was still on the ground this morning at the north rim of the Grand Canyon. The elevation there is higher than at the south rim. I think the north rim is a lot prettier. There is still 25 inches on the ground at Flagstaff Airport. They had some historic winter storms during the month of January.

* 61% of the lower 48 states had a snow cover this morning based on the daily NWS Snow Survey. That is a lot.

* 0 is how many college basketball games I have seen in person and I like college basketball.

* 18 February is when the Storm Alert 2010 program will be in Hale County at the Moundville High School Gym. That is only 6 miles north of where I grew up, 1/4 mile south of downtown Havana Junction. A number of my friends and relatives in Moundville and Hale County plan to attend. Before that the next program will be Thursday, February 11 at the Bevill State Exhibition Hall in Sumiton. All programs begin at 7:00 p.m.

WEATHER LORE
This is not exactly weather by the numbers, but I am holding in my caffeine-stained hands The Unique Bedside Book of Weather Lore, published for the Royal Meteorological Society in London in 1945. It was compiled by the late Richard Inwards. Just one item:

The south wind always brings wet weather,
the north wind wet and cold together,
the west wind always brings us rain,
the east wind blows it back again,
if the sun in red should set,
the next day surely will be wet,
if the sun should set in gray,
the next will be a rainy day.

Outta here!

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