Weather By The Numbers, 2/15/11

(Plus a bit of non-weather stuff. Have not done one of these in a long time, may no longer be that interesting, but here we go while I type and sip the world’s best coffee!)

* 45 below zero was the temperature at 7:15 this morning at North pole, Alaska, as reported by ABC 33/40 Skywatcher, Kristie Calvin. Yes, we do have a skywatcher at that distant location. Maybe James Spann will expand it world-wide one of these days!

* 48 below was the coldest in Alaska this morning at Eagle with a wind chill of 66 below! If caught out in that, would not take long to freeze to death!

* Warmest in the USA (Lower 48) yesterday was 86 at Laredo and lowest this morning 4 below zero at Saranac Lake in Upstate New York.

* 551.7 feet was the stage of Lake Purdy as of yesterday morning.

* 551 feet is full pool for Lake Purdy. Nice for that main water source for the Birmingham Metro Area as we get closer to warmer weather and the growing season. But, WAIT! March is, over the long haul, our wettest month of the year. And we are a long way from growing season. Still a long time before the danger of the latest frost will be here,

* 460.47 feet was the stage yesterday at Logan Martin. Full pool is 465 feet

* 505.74 was the state at Smith Lake. Full pool is 510 feet.

* $9.99 was the price of a brand new men’s suit at Haugers in Downtown Birmingham on May 23, 1930! An extra pair of trousers sold for $3 to $4. I am holding in my never-nicotine-stained but often caffeine-stained fingers, the front and second page of the old, old Birmingham Post dated May 23, 1930. (The actual paper, now a faded yellow) The paper sold at that time for 3 cents a copy and only 12 cents a week! In later years the Post merged with the old Birmingham Age-Herald to become the Birmingham Post-Herald.

* 8 is how many teams made up the Southern League at that time: Memphis, New Orleans, Little Rock, Birmingham, Nashville, Chattanooga. Mobile and Atlanta. On that date, Memphis was No. 1 and Atlnta No. 8.

* 8 is how many inches of snow on the ground at Buffalo this morning. The amount of snow-melt in many parts of the USA recently is amazing. Buffalo has received 82 inches of snow this season.

* 144 inches is how much snow Syracuse has received this season. Seems they are the champion snow-getter among major cities in the USA. That is 64 inches above the average amount. They have only 8 inches on the ground as of this morning.

* 2 inches is the snow depth in Des Moines this morning

Category: Headlines, Hodgepodge