The 2004 North Atlantic Hurricane Season will come to an end officially on Tuesday. There is a disturbance in the far eastern Atlantic that could develop into a subtropical or tropical cyclone over the weekend, so I may be adding to these statistics before Monday. Even if that does not happen, the 2004 Atlantic season will be a memorable one for the four hurricanes which struck the southeastern United States in August and September. Three of these systems were major hurricanes at the point of landfall, including Hurricanes Charley, which struck Southwest Florida on Friday, August 13th, Hurricane Ivan, which struck the Alabama coast on September 16th and Hurricane Jeanne, which struck the East Coast of Florida on September 25th.

During the 2004 season, a total of 14 Atlantic tropical cyclones reached tropical storm or hurricane force. Nine of these went on to become hurricanes. Six of the hurricanes went on to become major hurricanes (category three or higher.) These numbers are far above the 53 year seasonal averages of 9.6 named storms per year and 5.9 hurricanes. In an average year, there are 2.9 major hurricanes. Interestingly, there were twenty three days this year on which major hurricanes were in progress. The long term average is 5.0 days per year. The 2004 hurricane season ties the 1926 hurricane season for the most days with intense hurricanes.

Some interesting facts: There were no named storms in June or July, which is unusual given the impressive final statistics. The eight named storms in August were the most ever in that month. The eight named storms that struck the United States were the most tropical storms or hurricanes to make a U.S. landfall since eight occurred in 1916. The five hurricanes that made landfall along the U.S. coast were the most since 1985, when six occurred. Also, Alex brought hurricane force winds to the North Carolina Outer Banks, even though it did not technically make landfall. Three hurricanes made landfall in the Sunshine State, the most since Cleo, Dora and Isbell landed in Florida in 1964. More 2004 hurricane facts all weekend.

Two more tornado tracks have been found by NWS survey teams; an F1 tornado near Detroit in Lamar county, and an F0 tornado in Marion county near Hamilton.

See the report here: http://iwin.nws.noaa.gov/iwin/al/public.html

Still no report on the Calhoun county damage; the NWS has simply been swamped by the widespread damage from Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. I would expect their full report on the final twister count early next week. That was quite an outbreak.

And, this is the third wettest November on record in Birmingham with a current total of 9.82". Our wettest November came in 1948 with a total of 15.25"; November 1929 is next on the list with 14.69".

This morning's official low in Birmingham was 33, so still no freeze "officially" on the books. Many surrounding areas did drop below freezing. Our latest first freeze on record was in 1921 on December 5. That record could very well be in danger this year...

And... just found out from our news department that we now have our first fatality from flash flooding. More details on our 6:00 newscast this evening...

Well, it wasn't very much, but there was snow on the ground this morning in the higher elevations of the Great Smoky Mountains.

On popular Mt. Leconte, there was two inches on the ground as the temperature bottomed out at a very cold 7 above zero. On Newfound Gap there was one inch on the ground with a low of 11.

Other reports from that region: It was 14 degrees this morning on Grandfather Mountain, N. C., and 17 at Beech Mountain. In the North Georgia Mountains, it was 25 degrees at Black Rock Mountain, elevation 3464 feet.

A light to moderate frost was the story across much of Alabama this morning. Even in South Alabama, a few communities dropped to 32 degrees.

Because of so much leftover ground-level moisture, some dense fog also formed in some of the valleys. The visibility at Anniston Airport dropped to only 1/4 mile early this morning.

Perhaps the Country Morning Crew--a popular morning drive radio program on WTDR-FM, Anniston (Thunder 92.7) had a better explanation. Rufus T. Rasberry explained that the dense fog was due to condensation from so many automobile exhausts rushing to the malls!

Here is a selection of low temperatures from this morning:

28 in Fort Payne and Glencoe
29 in Pinson and Desoto State Park
30 in Helena (first freeze) and Weaver
31 in Anniston and Decatur
32 in Evergreen, Huntsville, Muscle Shoals, Troy and Cullman
33 in Montgomery, Birmingham and at the Shelby County Airport
34 in Auburn and Selma
35 in Dothan, Tuscaloosa, and Smith's Station (Lee County)
37 at Mobile Airport

We may see some even colder temperatures when all the reports are in.