Weather By The Numbers 7/6/10

* 101 is the forecast high today in NYC, in Central Park. It would be their first official high of 100 or hotter since August 3, 2001. It is expected to be 102 this afternoon in Newark, 100 in Baltimore and 99 in Washington.

* 99 was the high yesterday in Central Park and 102 in Newark. Even in the cool mountain country of Upstate New York it was 89 at Saranac Lake

* 90 was the 8 am temperature at New York’s JFK Airport with a heat index of 93. (Yes and it was only 8 am!)

* 3/10ths of 1% was the amount of the Lower 48 that had a snow cover this morning. A dusting in the last 24 hours at Ward, Colo.

* 201 inches was the snow depth this morning at Sharkstooth, in SW Colorado. That is one of those automated snow reporting stations in the high country at an elevation of 10,778 feet. It is in an area 69% covered by cool conifer forest and in a very remote unpopulated area. Those amounts this time of year is not THAT unusual. I once drove over Independence Pass (elevation 12,095 feet) in Central Colorado in late August and while the highway was clear, there were very deep snowdrifts in the ravines.

* 107 below zero is the current temperature at Vostok, Antarctica and their wind chill will be as low as 148 below during the next few days. Just had to throw that in to cool you off!

* 120 ABOVE zero at Basrah, Iraq was the temperature on the other end of the ole thermometer–and way off the scale. But the humidity was only 8%. That will still cook you! They should have highs 120 or hotter for the next several days. It was 115 in Baghdad with humidity 7%.

* 117 was the hottest in the USA yesterday at, you guessed it, Death Valley. 32 was the (coolest) (coldest) this morning at Meacham, Ore.

* 30 of 31 days in July have record high temperatures of 100 or higher in Birmingham. Only July 18 has never had 100. But it was 99 on the 18th in 1995.Bet you can’t tell the difference between 99 and 100!

* 100 is the average number of tornadoes reported each year in Canada. The good ole USA leads the world with an average of 1,000.

* 4th is where Alabama ranks among the wettest states in the USA with an average statewide of 58.28 inches. Hawaii is wettest with an average of 63.70 inches.

* 121 degrees is the all time high for North Dakota at Steele. It can get blistering hot across the Northern Plains. But it was 60 below zero at Parshall, North Dakota on February 15, 1936 so that is an extreme range of 181 degrees! That 121 is nine degrees hotter than Alabama’s all time high of 112 at Centreville in September, 1925. That is ironic because we weather creatures consider September as an autumn month!

* 116 hours in a row is how long Birmingham stayed below freezing in the super cold wave (I love that term and it never used any more) of 1940.

* 9/16/2004 at 2:10 am is when Hurricane Ivan made landfall on the Alabama Coast at Gulf Shores. We are now five weeks into the 2010 hurricane season so I thought I would mention that. Between 4 and 8 pm that day, the center passed near Birmingham with lots of tree damage and massive flash flooding. 9.91 inches of rain was blamed on Ivan at Birmingham Airport, 7.28 inches in Calera and 8.97 in Trussville

FINAL NOTE: Sure hope that I am not running this feature into the ground with so much stuff and semi boring at times.

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