Weather by the Numbers

* 52 is how many tornado warnings were issued so far this year by the NWS in Ft. Worth. This is through July 31 and it was due mainly to the sheer magnitude and length of the North Texas severe weather season this year. The NWS described it as a truly remarkable year.

* 27 is how many Tornado Warnings were issued last year by this time.

* 8 was the number in 2005.

* 531 was the number of Flash Flood Warnings this year for the same 7-month period. This is almost unheard of.

* 98 was the number of similar warnings last year.

* 464 Severe Thunderstorm Warnings were issued this year. Thanks to Kevin Selle for calling our attention to these numbers, as issued by the NWS/Ft. Worth-Dallas.

* 4 feet is how much below the 45-year average of the water level in Smith Lake in NW Alabama.

* 8 feet below normal pool for Tims Ford Lake.

* 16.49 inches is how much rain Huntsville has received this year, making it the driest on record for the first seven months in any year.

* 19.63 inches is the Huntsville deficit this year.

* 51.91 inches is how much rain Huntsville has missed since January 2005. I repeat for the upteenth time, this is one of the most incredible drought statistics that I can remember in all my days of weather work.

* 21.50 inches is the deficit so far this year at Cullman.

* 19.55 inches is the deficit for the year at Birmingham Airport. We will probably reach 20 inches in less than a week.

* 23.81 inches is the shortfall at Tuscaloosa Airport so far this year as of this morning.

* 22.45 inches is the deficit for Thorsby in North Chilton County.

* 3.62 inches is the deficit for Geneva in extreme South Alabama. They have received 33.54 inches of rain so far this year. Out of 34 stations analyzed each week by the U. S. Department of Agriculture. They are in the best shape of anyone. In fact, much of extreme South Alabama has not been impacted nearly so much as the northern part of the state.

* 52% is how much of Alabama’s pasture and rangeland was in very poor or poor condition as of yesterday.

* 38% was in fair condition.

* 9% is all that was in good condition.

* 77% of the state had very short or short topsoil moisture.

* 22% is how much of Alabama had adequate topsoil moisture.

* 32.5% of Alabama was under an Exceptional Drought designation this past week compared to only 17.7% a week ago and none at this same time last year.

* 5.25 inches is how much rain Rockford, Illinois received yesterday.

* 113 was the hottest in the USA at Bullhead City, Arizona yesterday. That town is located on the lower Colorado River separating Arizona from Nevada and California. There are several weather stations along that long stretch of river that are often the hottest spot in the country. They include Laughlin, Nevada, Needles, California and Lake Havasu City and Parker, both on the Arizona side. Some of those towns actually welcome the mention for their town being the hottest. They get free nationwide publicity.

* 32 at Truckee, California is the Sierra-Nevada Mountains was the lowest in the lower 48 this morning.

* 20 is the approximate number of states that have been put under a Heat Advisory. It has been years since I have seen this many at one time. This includes almost all of states, such as Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas and up to east coast to New Jersey.

* 76 below zero was the temperature at 9 o’clock this morning Alabama time at the Amundsen-Scott Station in Antarctica. They were reporting floating ice crystals. That means it is so cold that the very limited moisture in the air becomes ice crystals. Surprisingly, the Antarctic gets very little snow each year. It simply does not melt, especially on the ice sheet. This just to cool you off.

Bet you are getting tired of so much of this trivia.

Category: Uncategorized