Top Stories Montgomery

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — Soaking rains this week brought welcome relief to the blistering heat and also raised the Lake Purdy water reservoir level to an amount considered safe.

A total of 1.64 inches of rain fell at the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport Tuesday through Thursday, and a total of 1.8 inches fell at the Shelby County Airport in Calera.

The impact on Lake Purdy was quick.

The reservoir had been below what the Birmingham Water Works considers a “safe yield” from June 6 through Tuesday, but by Wednesday — as the heaviest rains fell — that ended.

The only other times Lake Purdy has been below its “safe yield” level since 1999 came in the two extreme drought years of 2000 and 2007.

Safe yield is basically a sloping line from 100 percent full on May 1 to 25 percent full on Dec. 1. That’s the time of year that is often drier and the demand for water is greater to keep lawns green and shrubbery healthy. Typically, the reservoir completely refills during the winter and early spring.

This week’s rains also broke the back of a heat wave.

The high temperature in Birmingham was 95 or greater for 22 of the 23 days from May 30 through June 21. But on Wednesday, the high was just 88, followed by 86 on Thursday.

Rain was scarce in May, with just 1.06 inches in Birmingham. This was 3.77 inches below normal. That was followed by just 1.03 inches in the first 20 days of June.

Throughout June the Birmingham area has been listed as abnormally dry by the U.S. Drought Monitor, and south and southeast parts of the state have had higher levels of drought.

With the heat and scarce rainfall, Gov. Robert Bentley issued a “no burn” order for all 67 Alabama counties on June 7. That order was still in effect on Friday but will be re-evaluated next week, according to the Alabama Forestry Commission.

Join the conversation, add a comment or email: jhansen@bhamnews.com

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: Ten Years Of Media Lens – Our Problem With Mainstream Dissidents.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.