By EMILY D. COOK / Community Columnist

Weather is an important component in our everyday life, and we at Oak Mountain State Park are dependent on good weather days to bring people into the park, but as we all know from living in Alabama that our weather can be crazy to say the least.

We always have to be weather alert. Do you remember not too long ago, we had severe storms one day and snow the next?

It all happens because of our climate. Alabama is part of the humid subtropical climate, meaning that we experience mild to cool winters but hot and usually humid summers.

Average temperatures during the summer are over 90 degrees and right around 50 degrees during the winter.

Typically, there are only about 35 days each year that fall below freezing. Are we sure we believe that?

There have been some days that are extremely cold here lately.

Average precipitation is about 52 inches in areas that aren’t on the Gulf Coast. Amounts of precipitation along the Gulf Coast of Alabama can reach 62 inches. Snowfall does occur but very often. Average snowfall in the Birmingham area is about 2 inches, but we’ve had lots more than that before.

I recall getting about 13 inches of snow in March 1993.

Unfortunately, for us living in Alabama, we have to be watchful because we are prone to thunderstorms, tornadoes and hurricanes.

Thunderstorms and tornadoes can pop up unexpectedly, so if you are enjoying an Alabama State Park, make sure you have a way to keep any eye on the weather. When you look throughout all 365 days in a year, we average between 70-80 thunderstorm days per year. Not bad considering everything.

On the next beautiful sunny day or even if it’s a cool day, come out to the park for a hike, bike or even just to have a picnic lunch.

Take advantage of the crazy Alabama weather.

Please remember that you keep Alabama State Parks open by visiting them. Thank you for your support.