rain indy day

The cool temperatures this summer were perhaps best epitomized by the more than 4 inches of rain that fell on July 4 in Huntsville. (The Huntsville Times file photo)

UAH climate expert John Christy, who is also the state climatologist, said the summer of 2013 is among the coolest on record in Alabama. (The Huntsville Times file photo)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - From Huntsville to Mobile, summer temperatures have been cooler than normal this year.

In fact, the summer of 2013 will be listed as one of the coolest summers in the past 131 years, according to state climatologist John Christy, director of the Earth Systems Science Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Christy announced today that this summer is the fifth-coolest on record in Alabama with average temperatures that are almost 2 degrees below normal.

"Overall, this summer was both cool and wet, although we warmed and dried as August came to a close," Christy said in the announcement. "Several local daily climate records were set for the coolest daytime high temperatures.

"Certain crops, such as corn, benefited from the weather, and the average Alabamian's utility bill for electricity and water was probably noticeably lower this year."

According to Christy, 1967 shows up in most Alabama weather stations as having the coolest summer since reliable weather record keeping started in 1883. Other summers on the cool end of the record have all been since 1960 and include 1997, 1992, 1961, 1989, 1994, 2003, 2004 and 2013.

In calculating the average temperatures for each region, the announcement said, the climatologist's office uses only daytime high temperature readings for stations within a 50-mile radius of each city center.

Only daytime highs are used because nighttime low temperatures at some stations have slowly been contaminated by the growth of urban areas around those stations. The data were combined in a process that takes into account station moves and instrument changes.

Coolest Alabama summers

Statewide composite

1. 1967 87.37deg

1992 87.37deg

3. 1997 87.67deg

4. 1994 87.70deg

5. 2013 87.87deg

6. 2003 87.90deg

7. 1989 88.12deg

8. 2004 88.15deg

9. 1961 88.22deg

10. 2001 88.32

131-yr. avg. 89.65deg

Birmingham

1. 1967 85.6deg

2. 1997 86.5deg

3. 1992 86.6deg

4. 2013 86.7deg

5. 1961 86.8deg

6. 2004 86.9deg

7. 2003 87.1deg

1974 87.1deg

9. 1989 87.2deg

1892 87.2deg

131-yr. avg. 90.1deg

Huntsville

1. 1967 85.3deg

2. 1992 85.6deg

3. 1976 86.8deg

1989 86.8deg

5. 1997 86.9deg

6. 1974 87.0deg

7. 2004 87.1deg

1979 87.1deg

2013 87.1deg

1961 87.1deg

131-yr. avg. 90.7deg

Mobile

1. 1994 87.6deg

2. 2003 88.1deg

1900 88.1deg

1892 88.1deg

1894 88.1deg

6. 2013 88.4deg

1992 88.4deg

1997 88.4deg

9. 1923 88.5deg

10. 1912 88.7deg

2001 88.7deg

1895 88.7deg

131-yr. avg. 90.8Adeg

Montgomery

1. 1994 88.5deg

2. 2003 88.7deg

3. 1997 88.9deg

1992 88.9deg

1967 88.9deg

6. 2013 89.3deg

7. 2001 89.4deg

8. 1961 89.6deg

2004 89.6deg

10. 1989 89.7deg

1975 89.7deg

1974 89.7deg

131-yr. avg. 92.7deg