Current September 2008 Precip: 7.76 inches (Including Today's 1.38 inches ; 5.45 above the normal month to date of 2.31 inches)
August 2008 Precip: 5.92 inches (Normal August Precip: 3.78 inches)
July 2008 Precip: 5.96 inches (Normal July Precip: 4.29 inches)
June 2008 Precip: 4.08 inches (Normal June Precip 3.42 inches)
We have gotten 23.72 inches of rain in the last three and a half months with the normal for the same period being 13.8 inches meaning we have gotten 9.92 inches of surplus rainfall.. in just the last 3.5 months. So how does our year to date rainfall stand?
Since January 1, 2008, RDU has received 40.71 inches. The normal value is 31.91 inches meaning we are 8.80 inches above the norm. Also if u notice, the year to date total was 40.71 inches and we received 23.72 inches of the total 40.71 inches in the last three and a half months. IMPRESSIVE!!
I am sure everyone knows 2007 was a dry year! Well get this.. Last year at this time since January 1, 2007, RDU only got 25.91 inches of rain meaning we were 6 inches below normal. BUT, the big thing to me is how again in the last three and a half months we have gotten 23.72 inches of rain.. almost the same amount of rain we received last year from January 1 through September 16.
Lets dive a little deeper. 2007 ended with 35.81 inches of rain, the normal value being 43.05 inches. Interesting how we already have received 4.9 inches more than we received all last year and there is still three and a half months left in the year. We ended the year 7.24 inches below normal.. so how much of the deficit have we really made up? Again, we have received 40.71 inches so far this year and 35.81 inches all last year. The normal yearly rain is 43.05 and the normal to date from Jan 1 to now is 31.91 inches totaling 74.96 inches. Our actual from January 1 to now is 76.52 inches. So in fact we have made up the last years deficit if my calculation is correct. We are 1.56 inches above the normal rainfall since January 1, 2007. Hopefully we will be able to get at least normal rainfall now until the end of the year so we can keep the surplus we have and not fall into another serious drought.
Here is a look at the last 3 weeks. We had the remnants of Tropical Storm Fay effect the area on August 26- 28. We received 3.71 inches of rain during this event. Then August 30-31, several rounds of thunderstorms effected the area totaling 0.96 inches of rain. Next came the big event, Tropical Storm Hanna, September 5-6, receiving 5.19 inches of rain. Finally, two widespread rainfall events, one on September 10 and one today, September 16, dumped a total of 2.57 inches of rain. SINCE AUGUST 26, RDU HAS RECEIVED 12.43 INCHES OF RAIN!
There is no doubt in my mind we are making up the deficit that we built last year. Last weeks drought monitor shows the decay of the drought region across south central NC, but the drought lingers across western NC and even northern and northeastern NC as shown below. The reason why the drought across our area is not completely gone is because of the water table. Precipitation amounts are only half of the puzzle. The water table was severely hurt last year and its still catching up.
The new drought monitor will come out Thursday morning and I will post it here. It will be interesting to see what changes as it will include the rainfall event that occurred on Wednesday, September 10. It will not include today's rain since the cutoff for their data analysis is 7am every Tuesday and most of the rain occurred from 11am to 4pm.
No comments:
Post a Comment