Weather by the Numbers, 3/15/2010

* 47.50 inches is the contrast in rain amounts between Birmingham’s wettest and driest year. This is almost four feet of rain! Driest was 1904 with only 34.32 inches and wettest was 1916 with 81.82 inches! We had statewide flood problems that year and a hurricane was involved. Numerous wells went dry in 1904 that had never been dry before!

* 260 inches is the average annual snow amount for Mt. Washington, New Hampshire, billed as having the world’s worst weather. Never been there. It is on my wish list. So is a zillion other interesting places. I need to live as old as Noah!

* 66.29 inches is the average annual rain amount for Mobile. That is about one foot more than Birmingham. Credit our dear friend, the Gulf of Mexico for the difference.

* 2010 hurricane season will have a simple name to start. It is Alex, named after my 16-year old grandson, Alex Broome. Just teasing of course, but Alex is my grandson and very smart. His IQ is 2X mine generally and 25X mine when it comes to the inner workings of a computer.

* 87 is the all time high for Eureka on the north coast of California. They have never experienced 90. Credit the constant westerly winds off the cool waters of the Pacific.

* 6.10 inches is the average annual rain amount for Baghdad contrasted with 54 inches for Birmingham despite the fact that both cities are about the same latitude, Of course, the desert gets the credit.

* 109 is the average daily high in Baghdad in both July and August. I don’t care if the humidity is zero, zip, none, that hurts.

* 26% was this morning’s snow cover for the lower 48 states. Compare that to 60% a month ago today. You could travel all the way from Alabama to Michigan without seeing a consistent snow cover today.

* 14 inches is all the snow that Spokane has received this season. That is 30 inches below average. We mention this because last year at this time that Eastern Washington city had received 89 inches and the snow got so deep that hundreds of roofs gave way. I have a brother-in-law that lives there and he said it was a “real mess.”

* 29 inches is all the snow that Salt Lake has received this season. Average by this date is 51 inches. Growing concern among farmers and ranchers about the snow pack. They depend on snow melt in the spring. So do municipal water systems. Much of the Northern Rockies and Pacific NW have a below average snow pack.

* 138 inches of snow this season for Flagstaff in the high country of North Arizona, 49 inches above average. Huge contrast to Salt Lake. Flagstaff has 15 inches of snow on the ground this morning.

* 40 below zero was the coldest in Alaska this morning at Barrow on the north coast. The wind chill was 54 below meaning that I would need to wear a coat. Running out of time for Chicken, Alaska to chill to 68 below like they did last winter. Or was it 69 below?

* 76 inches of snow on the ground at Whittier, Alaska and 69 inches at Valdez.

* 5 is how many major league baseball games Bill Murray and family will attend this week during spring training time in Florida. I am positive that Bill would rank among the top five baseball fans in the whole world and even on Mars.

* 7 was the coldest temperature in the Lower 48 this morning at Stanley, Idaho, nestled on the Salmon River in the Sawtooth Mountains. Next time you are in Stanley, look off to the south and SW and you will see the jagged peaks of the mountains that resemble a cross-cut saw. We camped on the Salmon River once–one of my favorites. Stanley competes with places like Saranac Lake, N.Y., and Yellowstone Lake, Wyo., for the coldest. Unfortunately, we no longer get timely reports from Fraser, Colo., the long term champion, otherwise they would be right in there competing!

* 0 is the number of paragraphs that I have written about our trip to Rogers Pass, Mont., famous for the all-time USA (lower 48) low of 70 below zero. I promise I am going to do it. I am president of the USCP (United States Chronic Procrastinators. I have a complete file on the trip. I am going to use my birthday as a pledge to be more prompt and to cut out 90% of my silliness. Meanwhile, I want to end on this one silly note.

* Did you know that if people lived on Mars and it snowed, they would all rush to the supermarkets to buy all the milk, bread, pop tarts, moon pies, vienna sausage and MARS BARS? (You have not heard that before because I just made it up)

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