1998 Weather Year in Review

1998 Weather Year in Review

Annual Summary for the Northern 2/3rds of Alabama and the Columbus, GA Area

The record books show that much of the deep south experienced a warm year. While there were areas that saw above normal rainfall the overall pattern was a drier than normal year across Alabama and West Central Georgia.

Both Huntsville and Columbus, GA experienced the warmest mean annual temperature of record, Montgomery experienced the 6th warmest, while Birmingham saw its 9th warmest mean annual temperature.

Rainfall for 1998, was the second driest of record for Columbus, GA, the fourth driest for Huntsville. Montgomery ended up near normal, while Birmingham experienced a wet year, with the ninth wettest year of record.

Here is the breakdown for each location:

City	Mean Temperature for 1998	Mean Temperature Departure from Normal	Total Rainfall for 1998	Total Rainfall Departure from Normal
Huntsville	63.4	plus 3.1	45.76	minus 11.42
Birmingham	64.9	plus 2.6	67.27	plus 12.69
Montgomery	67.0	plus 2.0	44.46	minus 5.03
Columbus, GA	67.7	plus 3.0	33.19	minus 17.81
Columbus, GA coop site			41.33

Here are the top 5 years of record for each city:
Huntsville (records since 1958)
Warmest	Coldest	Wettest	Driest
1998 - 63.4	1976 - 58.2	1989 - 73.58	1981 - 41.81
1991 - 62.5	1979 - 58.8	1975 - 72.97	1968 - 42.43
1965 - 62.1	1983 - 59.1	1990 - 72.26	1965 - 42.99
1959 - 61.9	1968 - 59.3	1991 - 70.26	1998 - 45.76
1986 - 61.9	1981 - 59.5	1983 - 67.39	1978 - 46.34
Birmingham (records since 1900)
Warmest	Coldest	Wettest	Driest
1921 - 66.1	1983 - 60.2	1916 - 81.82	1904 - 34.32
1933 - 65.5	1976 - 60.3	1961 - 76.48	1931 - 36.14
1927 - 65.5	1966 - 60.5	1903 - 76.21	1943 - 36.86
1922 - 65.3	1968 - 60.7	1980 - 75.36	1908 - 39.52
1938 - 65.1	1969 - 60.8	1948 - 71.45	1954 - 40.66
Montgomery (records since 1910)
Warmest	Coldest	Wettest	Driest
1927 - 68.0	1976 - 62.4	1929 - 78.25	1953 - 26.82
1933 - 67.8	1983 - 63.5	1912 - 77.89	1931 - 34.44
1921 - 67.8	1969 - 63.6	1989 - 75.47	1968 - 35.46
1922 - 67.5	1996 - 63.6	1983 - 75.47	1914 - 37.99
1911 - 67.3	1968 - 63.7	1975 - 72.98	1951 - 38.65
Columbus (records since 1946)
Warmest	Coldest	Wettest	Driest
1998 - 67.7	1968 - 62.7	1964 - 73.22	1954 - 30.23
1990 - 67.3	1976 - 62.9	1966 - 69.93	1998 - 33.19
1986 - 67.2	1958 - 63.0	1971 - 64.47	1968 - 36.11
1991 - 66.7	1969 - 63.0	1975 - 63.36	1984 - 38.12
1982 - 65.9	1960 - 63.2	1947 - 62.43	1963 - 39.14

We at the National Weather Service wish you all the best for 1999.