Across The Board--Our Hottest Day This Year and in Several Years

June 21, 2006, 7:44 pm
Posted by J.B. Elliott in Weather Discussions
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Today was our hottest day so far this year and in many areas, the hottest in six years. Here we go with a list and this may not be all of the reports:

92 at Orange Beach
95 in Cullman and Crossville
96 in Mobile and Muscle Shoals
97 in Albertville, Clay
98 in Decatur, Huntsville, Vinemont, Northport, Shelby County Airport
99 in Montgomery, Troy, Anniston, Fort Payne, Meridianville, Inverness, Demopolis
100 in Auburn, Birmingham, Dothan, Evergreen, Tuscaloosa, Nauvoo, Crumly Chapel, Munford, Leeds
101 in Pinson, DeSoto State Park, Trussville
103 in Hueytown, Cordova, Riverside

EXTRA NOTES
* The 97 in Clay was the highest since 100 on September 5, 2002
* Cordova had the hottest day in six years
* Today was the first time the official Birmingham Airport temperature had reached 100 since August 29, 2000 when it was also 100.

LAST SIX TIMES IT WAS 100 OR HIGHER IN BIRMINGHAM
100 today
100 on August 29, 2000
102 on August 22, 2000
102 on July 12, 2000
100 on July 14, 2000
101 on July 15, 2000
103 on July 19, 2000

The all time high for Birmingham is 107 on July 29, 1930
It was 106 on June 29, 1931
It was also 106 on September 5 and 6 in 1925

That September 1925 heat wave was brutal before the days of air conditioning. It bought the highest temperature ever recorded in Alabama, a blistering 112 on September 5, 1925 at Centreville.
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Posted by   www
on June 21, 2006, 8:08 pm
Really nice rain this afternoon in Shelby community...first in a while. (our Shelby Iron Works sugar cane crop was looking a little stunted)
Not much wind involved, but a pretty good lighening show.

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Posted by Daniel  
on June 21, 2006, 8:39 pm
hey JB, what kinda of stanard or guide lines did they go by back in the 20's on measuring the temp?

For example, were they in the shade, sheltered, have aspirators ( which I doubt, and if not ,you could probably shave 5-10 degrees off), elevation and so on.



One more thing, the Cullman report is probably bogus, that thing has needed calibrated for 2 years, it runs low on the temp, even in the winter by at least 2-4 degrees.



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Posted by  
on June 21, 2006, 9:44 pm
Very good records in those days. Large cotton-region instrument shelter with max-min thermometers. For many years, max-min thermometers were manufactured by a scientist in his basement in the NE. He did strict testing and demanded accuracy to a small fraction of a degree. The thermometers carried his name (something like Wesler) (Probably not spelled right.)

I feel like records from USWB stations and coop observers in those early years and on through the 40s, 50s and 60s were top quality.

The coop observer in Pinson still uses those old-fashioned max-min thermometer and the large type "cotton-region" type instrument shelter.

When I was coop observer for Bessemer, before joining the USWB in 1957, I had the same setup. The max-min thermometers at my station was the same ones used in the old Birmingham city office at Norwood. Those thermometers are now in the coop observers station at Hanceville. Hope this helps.



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Posted by  
on June 21, 2006, 8:53 pm
Daniel,

As you may already know, the official "Cullman" reading comes from Folsom Field, which is actually near Vinemont. The airport is at a different elevation than the city of Cullman, and therefore, is usually not very representative of the surrounding area. As a part of the coop modernization program, there's a new station in Cullman at the Ag Station (where there has already been a coop station for a while). We will see what the high was there (should be more representative of the city of Cullman) when NWS Huntsville issues their daily OSO product in the morning.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/data/HUN/OSOHUN

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