Fourth-Place Finish*

As of 10 AM today, the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth Airport had recorded 71.67″ (unofficially) for the year. It’s unofficial because the NWS climate report has not come out for the day; once that comes out, we will be “official.”

So, where does that rank us in Birmingham’s wettest years? This year was the fourth-wettest on record since 1900.

Here are Birmingham’s Top Five as they stand right now:

1. 81.82″ in 1929
2. 76.48″ in 1961
3. 75.36″ in 1932
4. 71.67″ in 2009*
5. 71.45″ in 1920

Tuscaloosa’s yearly total is going to be about 62.87,” and Anniston will be near 66.96.”

All seems well with these numbers, but why the asterisk? What do you make of the reports of 80-90 inches of rain nearby these airports in places like Coker and Clay? J.B. Elliott and I have been discussing whether or not the records might be tainted by a change from a manual 8″ cylinder rain gauge to the automatic tipping-bucket rain gauges between 1929 and today. What do you think? Should the records be examined more closely, or if you’re in the know, do the records reflect a manual observation that we are not aware of? Does anyone really care? :)

Here’s an interesting read on the difference between ASOS (automatic tipping-bucket stations) and manual gauges such as the ones used by CoCoRaHs observers. According to the research these folks did at the Colorado Climate Center, the automatic gauges may be as much as 25% less than an old cylinder gauge. (Hat tip to skywatcher Wally Coker for the info):

Automated Rain Gauges vs. CoCoRaHs Manual Gauges.

Your thought for the New Year: which one is correct?

Happy New Year!

Jason

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Category: Pre-November 2010 Posts