Our Worst Drought Ever?

We don’t know for sure.

One thing is certain, our current drought in Alabama ranks right up near the top–if not the top.

But, I want to talk about a drought at a much earlier time. I am holding in my caffeine-stained fingers a 28-page packet of information from the old Alabama Weather Service established long before there was a U.S. Weather Bureau.

Actually, the earliest systematic collecting of weather data in Alabama was under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institute. Even before that time there were some irregular observations. From those old, old records, two items:

1855 RAINFALL
37.52 inches at Auburn
37.60 Greensboro
36.01 Green Springs (Hale County)

THE SEVERE DROUGHT OF 1840 (167 years ago)
The spring was dry and cool. By early June, the fields in Alabama presented a “bleak and Barren” prospect. Famine seemed imminent. The summer was also dry. The Warrior River at Tuscaloosa nearly dried up resulting in the death of a great many fish. At Montgomery, there was a light rain early in August and no more until late October. The Alabama River was too low for navigation. An immense cotton crop was made, perhaps the largest yield ever per acre up until that time. There was no bad weather to prevent cotton picking from August until the following spring.

These two rain amounts for the entire year of 1840:

29.08 inches in Huntsville
25.93 Savannah

Some more notes from those old, old records from time to time.

Category: Pre-November 2010 Posts