2008 Local Weather Highlights

In the Mobile Bay area we got through 2008 without a direct hit from a hurricane but there was other significant local weather. Usually we only remember the last couple of weeks but how many events do you recall?

2008 started in the freezer. The second night was in the teens and we stayed below 40 on the second day for the coldest weather in 5 years.

On January 20th snow fell from Chatom to Thomasville- up to 3 inches.

11 days later on January 31 it was severe weather in the same areas, with Washington county winding up with wind damage. One lady who had was severely affected said, "The house shook real bad and I heard the roof tear off." This was the start of a series of severe weather events.

February 12, Super Tuesday: damaging storms once again move through our area with some hurling hurricane force wind.

5 days later on the 17th tornadoes tracked through Molino, Chumuckla and then Dixie leaving narrow paths of damage. A local man said, "Never had wind like that before."

After a relatively quiet March, on April 5 the skies opened up and many of us faced flooding from as much as ten inches of rain along the I-10 corridor.

Middle May showed us another round of severe weather and damage done to buildings in Citronelle and in McDavid.

By the end of June hurricanes were no problem but severe weather again left it’s mark, this time in Pace Florida.

August gave us our first Tropical taste with weak Fay first passing by but then swinging 6-8” rain back to us the day after.

A week later Hurricane Gustav made landfall well to our west but left it’s mark in feeder band tornadoes and delayed flooding to start September. One emergency responder exclaimed, "Last time we saw flooding like this was Katrina."

On September 11, Hurricane Ike passed by to the south but just like Gustav, high surf and erosion were a headache.

Aside from warm and cool spells most of the fall was pretty quiet.

However a few weeks ago on December 10th flooding was a problem east of I-65 and in the Panhandle.

If you don’t remember any of this then the one thing you probably remember is the many foggy starts to our December days.

Alan Sealls, News 5