Weather by the Numbers

* 36 is the number of days that we experienced 95-degree heat or hotter in the 3 months of July through September in the great heat wave of 1925. (Thought I would lead off with that hot weather item to try to warm you up!)

* 14 days gave us 100-degree heat or hotter in that same heat wave.

* 112 at Centreville was the high for the state during 1925 heat and that still stands as Alabama’s all-time record.

* 62 degrees was the temperature plunge in St. Louis overnight–one of the greatest in recent weather history.

* 73 was the record high in St. Louis yesterday. This morning it was 11.

* 60 was the high in Quincy, Illinois yesterday. It was 4 this morning.

* 48 was the high at Chicago O’Hare yesterday, but it 2 below zero this morning with wind chills running as low as 35 below.

* 50 mph or higher is the forecast winds on Lake Michigan today. The NWS issued a Freezing Spray Warning and warned that ice buildup on vessels would be rapid. It was highly recommended that mariners, not used to such conditions, stay off the lake.

* 92 was the USA high in Kingsville, Texas yesterday.

* 28 below zero was the coldest in the lower 48 this morning at Williston and Hampden, North Dakota.

* 58 below zero was the coldest in Alaska at Chalkyitsik and Chicken. (Yes, there is a place named Chicken.)

* 47 below zero was the wind chill in International Falls, Minnesota this morning. Die Hard batteries filmed a commercial there once.

* 2 inches is the amount of additional snow expected today in Hawaii on Mauna Loa above 8,000 feet and also in Haleakala National Park above 6,000 feet.

* 4 inches (at least) is how deep the ground is frozen in Chicagoland. 26 was the temperature at the 4-inch deep soil level at nearby Romeoville, Illinois.

* 27 is the number of inches of snow in Chicago so far this winter, 5 inches ahead of normal.

* 37 inches is how much Rockford, Illinois has received, 13 inches ahead of normal.

* 1 is how many persons were injured by hail yesterday in the broad-based big storm. It happened at Evansville, Illinois when a man was cut on his forehead with 1-inch hailstones.

* 2 persons were killed at Poseyville, Indiana when high winds overturned a mobile home.

* 208 is how many strong wind reports the Storm Prediction Center received yesterday up until midnight.

* 70 below zero is the all-time record low temperature for the lower 48. It happened on January 20, 1954 at Rogers Pass, Montana.

* 36 inches is how deep the snow was in the canyon leading up to the Rogers Pass weather station at an old silver mine when we visited the site later in the spring. We almost never found it. We did not have snow shoes and we broke through the snow a number of times. It took almost an hour to fight our way a couple of hundred yards. The encounter with the two old codgers that owned the silver mine (and doubled as the official NWS coop observers) was most interesting–scary at first. I will have a much longer story about that interesting trip later.

NOTE: There were numerous high wind reports across Alabama last night. Scroll down on this weather blog and you will see a large number of those mentioned. Around Alabama, two of the heavier rain amounts overnight included 1.13 inches at Carbon Hill and 1.40 at Haleyville. One of the highest wind gusts was 65 mph at the downtown Birmingham skycam atop the Daniel Building.

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