15 Below Zero in Birmingham?

Well, not officially but I am 98% sure it happened once but official weather instruments were not in the right place to record it. (In the Weather History menu, be sure and read Bill Murray’s excellent account about the Mother of all Cold Waves posted yesterday morning)

I would even call it the Grandfather of all Cold Waves.

It was on the morning of February 13, 1899, 109 years ago tomorrow.

The official low at Birmingham was 10 below zero! BUT…

Official Birmingham records at the time were in Downtown Birmingham at 2001 First Avenue North. The official thermometer was 70 feet off the ground. Daily observations had started in 1882 but they were closed on Sundays. Finally, a Weather Bureau Agency was established on September 14, 1895 with daily observations including Sunday.

You should see the official records at that time. For many years we had them on file at the NWS–not sure where they are now. At the time of the record cold, the records were hand-scribbled in an old journal, about 4 days on one page.

So, under those circumstances, Birmingham’s all time low of minus 10 occurred on February 13, 1899. Noted on the border of the page was that some folks in the outlying areas reported -14.

No airport records in 1899
No Pinson records (James Price had not been born)
Wonder what Vic Bell would have recorded in Scrougeout/Black Creek at the time.

Every weather station in Alabama had below zero except Daphne. It was an even zero there. Even in North Florida, Tallahassee had minus 2.

The Alabama River was frozen bank to bank at Montgomery.

On the Black Warrior west of Birmingham, there was ice skating. The ice was 6 inches thick where creeks entered the river.

Schools closed for a week. Birmingham’s effort at having a Mardi Gras was scrubbed.

These lows on the morning of February 13, 1899–109 years ago tomorrow:

16 below in Hamilton
15 below in Oneonta and Jasper
13 below in Gadsden
12 below in Decatur
11 below Florence
10 below Downtown Birmingham
9 below Clanton
7 below Wetumpka, Tuscaloosa, Scottsboro, Opelika
6 below Tuskegee, Fort Deposit
5 below Montgomery
4 below Eutaw
2 below Citronelle
0 Daphne

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