A Birmingham home calendar, season by season, drawn from airport climate normals, the Southern pollen pattern, spring storm weather and local leaf and burning rules.
Birmingham does not have the four neat seasons of a postcard. It has a short, damp winter with almost no snow, a pollen season that starts before winter is over, a wet and stormy spring, a long muggy summer and a dry, mild fall. Each one leaves a different kind of dirt behind.
This calendar takes those patterns from local records and turns them into a home cleaning plan you can follow through the year.
The 1991 to 2020 normals for the Birmingham airport describe a wet, warm city. Annual rain is 56.62 inches, with March the wettest month at 5.66 inches and October the driest at 3.34. The city averages 47 nights below freezing and 65 days at 90 degrees or higher, but normal snowfall is only 1.4 inches a year.
Humidity tells the summer story. Normal dew points average about 67 degrees in June, 70 in July and 69 in August, which is the range where the air feels sticky and surfaces stay damp.
Winter in Birmingham is mostly cold rain and frosty mornings rather than snow. The normal January low is 34.9 degrees, and what little snow falls comes between December and March. Homes stay closed up, the heat runs, and dust collects on vents, fan blades and the tops of door frames.
This is also when Southern trees can start releasing pollen, as early as December or January. Use the quieter weeks after the holidays for jobs that are easier with the yard dormant: washing baseboards, wiping vents and cleaning out window tracks before the spring film arrives.
March is the wettest month of the normal year, and the national tree pollen peak runs from February through April. Together they mean yellow film on porches, sills and cars, and muddy floors at every door. Dust blinds and sills often and keep shoes at the entry.
Spring is also severe weather season in Central Alabama. On April 27, 2011, the National Weather Service confirmed 29 tornadoes in Central Alabama, including the EF-4 that tracked more than 80 miles from Tuscaloosa toward Birmingham. Keep a weather radio charged and an interior room clear enough to use.
Late spring, once the trees finish, is a good time for a full deep clean to remove the pollen layer from blinds, fans and light fixtures.
Summer is about moisture. With dew points near 70 and day after day above 90, bathrooms and closets hold dampness, and kitchens feel sticky. The Jefferson County Department of Health advises running exhaust fans, fixing leaks and keeping indoor humidity below 50 percent to control mold and mildew.
The same department asks residents to empty standing water to stop mosquitoes breeding and to seal cracks and remove moisture to deter cockroaches. Check plant saucers, pet bowls left outside and clogged gutters, and keep crumbs and damp sponges off kitchen counters. Outdoor burning is not allowed in Jefferson County from April through October, so yard waste goes to the curb instead.
Ragweed, the worst weed pollen for allergies, starts around August in many places and carries into the fall. October is the driest month of the normal year, which makes it a good time for jobs that need a dry house: washing windows inside, cleaning window tracks and doing a deep clean before the holidays.
Leaf season brings its own rules. Mountain Brook picks up leaves by zone on a published schedule, Homewood sends four or more bags of leaves to a claw truck, and Hoover schedules leaf piles through MyHooverConnect. From November, outdoor burning in Jefferson County needs health department authorization, so bagging leaves for pickup is usually the simpler route.
The questions Birmingham homeowners ask most often about this topic, answered plainly.
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