Alabama’s Fifth Coolest Summer On Record

From Dr. John Christy… the Alabama state climatologist…

Alabama’s 2013 summer will go into the books as one of the coolest summers of the past 131 years, according to data from the Alabama state climatologist.

Looking at temperature data from the areas around each of the state’s four largest cities, plus forecast highs through Saturday, the summer of 2013 should place somewhere between fourth coolest (in Birmingham) and seventh coolest (in Huntsville), said Dr. John Christy, the state climatologist and director of the Earth System Science Center at The University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Taken together, it is the fifth coolest summer on record, with an average temperature that was almost 2° cooler than seasonal norms.

“Overall, this summer was both cool and wet, although we warmed and dried as August came to a close,” Christy said. “Several local daily climate records were set for the coolest daytime high temperatures.

“Certain crops, such as corn, benefited from the weather, and the average Alabamian’s utility bill for electricity and water was probably noticeably lower this year.”

Several people have asked if the cool summer will have any influence on temperatures this winter. Sorry, but no, Christy said.

“The fact we had a cool summer doesn’t help in predicting the coming winter’s average conditions,” he said. “A quick check shows that there is no relationship between summer’s average temperature and that of the following winter.”

In terms of history, 1967 shows up in most Alabama weather stations as having the coolest summer since reliable weather record keeping started in 1883. Other summers on the cool end of the record have all been since 1960 and include 1997, 1992, 1961, 1989, 1994, 2003, 2004 and, now, 2013.

In calculating the average temperatures for each region, the climatologist’s office uses only daytime high temperature readings for stations within a 50-mile radius of each city center. Only daytime highs are used because nighttime low temperatures at some stations have slowly been contaminated by the growth of urban areas around those stations. The data were combined in a process that takes into account station moves and instrument changes.

Coolest Alabama Summers

AREA COMPOSITE
1. 1967 87.37°
1992 87.37°
3. 1997 87.67°
4. 1994 87.70°
5. 2013 87.87°
6. 2003 87.90°
7. 1989 88.12°
8. 2004 88.15°
9. 1961 88.22°
10. 2001 88.32
131-yr. avg. 89.65°

BIRMINGHAM
1. 1967 85.6°
2. 1997 86.5°
3. 1992 86.6°
4. 2013 86.7°
5. 1961 86.8°
6. 2004 86.9°
7. 2003 87.1°
1974 87.1°
9. 1989 87.2°
1892 87.2°
131-yr. avg. 90.1°

Tags: cool summer

Category: Alabama's Weather