A look at 2023′s weather so far

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - If the year ended right now, 2023 would be remembered for the amount of severe weather and tornadoes that have impacted Alabama. January’s two tornado outbreaks are the main reason behind the very active year so far.

There are things other than severe weather that we can dive into when looking at the year so far. That includes temperatures, rainfall, thunderstorm activity, snowfall, wind, and more.

For the purpose of this story we are using data from Montgomery. Not every town and city in Central Alabama will have the exact same data as Montgomery. Using Montgomery will give as a great general idea of what the year has been like.

Through April 19th the city of Montgomery is running warmer and wetter than what’s considered normal.

Nearly 17 inches of rain has fallen in the city. That puts the city 2-4″ above normal. There has been even more rain in counties like Autauga, Chilton, Clarke, Coosa, Dallas, Elmore, Lee, Marengo, Perry, Tallapoosa, and Wilcox. The middle part of the state has been the wettest compared to normal through mid-April.

Meanwhile, the southern third of Alabama is in need of some rain. It’s nothing dire at this point, though there are multiple counties in the “abnormally dry” category on the latest Drought Monitor update issued today, April 20th.

Temperatures are much more uniform across Alabama. In fact, every square of inch of the state is running warmer than normal so far. Many towns and cities are actually running well above normal.

Those in the darkest of oranges on the map above are running five to seven degrees above normal. This factors in overnight low temperatures and afternoon high temperatures.

I looked into both highs and lows for Montgomery, and both are running above normal. Montgomery’s average high so far in 2023 is just above 72 degrees, and the average low is between 48 and 49 degrees.

Not a single instance of snow has occurred in Montgomery in 2023. On average we see a trace to as much as a half-inch of snow during the months of January, February and March. So technically speaking, snowfall is one category that is running below the norm this year!

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