Why does it rain so much in Mobile (Fairhope: living in, restaurant)

[Valnf]

I will be relocating to Baldwin County and been watching the weather the past six months and it rains almost every day? Has it always been like this and I noticed it was voted the rainiest city.

[Bravo35223]

Yes it has always been like that and so are New Orleans and Houston.

The Gulf of Mexico is relatively shallow and as a result, warms up considerably in the summer time simply from the sun. This warm air causes a huge amount of evaporation/cloud formation....stationary fronts located over the gulf rotating in a counterclockwise direction will pump moisture northward. The Gulf supplies much of the moisture to the eastern half of the U.S. - going upward for hundreds of miles...

Everywhere in Florida has similar rainfall. The afternoon heating of the sun causes rainshowers from 3pm to 6pm and because Florida is surrounded by water on three sides, it is also quite rainy.

The good news is that in addition to the rain, there is a abundance of sunshine....its not like Seattle with constantly gloomy skies....

[tuxedocat]

They have something called a "squall" or "squawl" that happens over the bay there. It is a storm that comes up quickly out of nowhere it seems and then it is gone just as fast.
I was in a restaurant there not long ago and suddenly this horrible storm happened. The rain and wind was so bad it was blowing the doors open and it seemed like the building would blow away and the rain was so thick and blowing so hard and the sky was dark. Then all of a sudden after just a few minutes it was gone. Like nothing had ever happened at all!
It is called a "squall" (however they spell it)
If you're in a safe place it can be really pretty to watch. You might also see waterspouts over the water. I think it's like a mini-tormado -- it looks just like a spout of water going up to the sky over the bay.
I think you will love the bay. And all the great seafood

[tuxedocat]

Have you been to the park at Fairhope yet? There is a little restaurant on a wharf over the water. There are walking trails by the bay and a pretty rose garden. In the mornings you can watch the fishermen throwing their cast nets and catching all kinds of things. Big shrimp. crabs. All kinds of things. Big old oak trees with spanish moss. I think you will really like it.

[urbups]

Considering the seeingly growing times of drought the non costal parts of Alabama and Georgia you may in coming years consider those daily rains a major asset to living there.

I grew up in New Orleans and the rain is definitely very different on the GC compared to living in areas like B'ham and Atlanta.

[DeltaBelle1978]

Are you watching the chances of rain? Cause they can be deceiving. They'll say it is going to rain every day and you may only see rain 1 day out of those days. I believe the rain chance is for the whole viewing area for the day. So about the only way we really see rain is if they say we have 100% rain and than you just might get rain. They say that we have been in a drought. The rain we have gotten the past few days helped a little but even then they said Pensicola got like 14in. where Mobile got like 4 inches(if that)

It would be better to look up on Weather Station CW1353 Present Weather in West Mobile , Alabama and see the real rainfall totals for that day because Mobile don't get rain every day.

My husband heard this somewhere, now he has adopted the saying. If someone complains about the weather in Mobile, he says "Just hang around for a few minutes it will change" And its true what the previous poster said. We get rain that just appears and than goes away just as quick.

Having a garden and animals that need green grass, I wish we had more rain. We can use the rain. Everything seems cleaner after a good rain.

[DeltaBelle1978]

The site in the above post has a link button (at the bottom of the page) that will show the previous month climate data. This shows the rainfall for every day in September and in a few days it should show what we got in October. Let me know if this helped any. I looked it up just for you. This site is in West Mobile and is close to the Airport. If I'm not mistaken, the airport is where they collect the rain totals in Mobile County.

Please let me know if this helped you see what you were interested in. You may still think that it rains alot here but this site will give you actual numbers to see instead of what they say we are suppose to get.

[rosem12514]

During July and August the forecast calls for 30% precip nearly every day? Summer showers are pretty common in the late afternoon. Rarely more than .25 inch.
Mobile was ranked the rainiest city in the 48 states back in May.

[Keeper]

The thing about Mobile is it isn't like Seattle where it is overcast much of the time. It will rain (shower) and then the sun comes out.
When they calculate rain chances it is usually over a rather large area, so to say.. there is a 50 o/o chance of rain today can mean it is going to rain in Baldwin county but not in Mobile county..
Mobile is a beautiful city..

[Dixie Princess]

Cause God's controls the weather and he wanted Mobile green........