by Barney Leach
By Barney Leach
January 2021 kicked off wet with above normal rainfall and a record snowfall of 3 ½ inches on January 10. Total precipitation for the month was 3.70 inches. We had seven days with measureable precipitation. Normal rainfall for January is 3.26 inches.
Temperature wise, we made it though our normally coldest month of the year without a freeze. High temperature for the month was 75 degrees on January 4. Low temperature was 33 degrees on January 9, 12, and 28. We have not had a rfreeze yet for the winter. We did have a couple of freezes back in the autumn portion of December.
Looking ahead to February: February is normally our third coldest month of the year. The mid-point of winter falls on February 4 and temperatures, on an average, tend to bottom out around that time. We have had most of our snow and frozen precipitation in the past around the mid-winter point. We can and have had frigid weather into March.
Normal rainfall for February is 3.31 inches.
Normal rainfall data upgraded:
Monthly rainfall normals have been upgraded to reflect averages over the twenty-year period through 2020. Previous values were for the twenty-year period from 1999 through 2018. Values are shown in inches.
January: 3.26
February: 3.31
March: 4.96
April: 3.72
May: 5.46
June: 4.02
July: 2.62
August: 2.37
Sept.: 2.89
October: 5:15
November: 2.83
December: 4.04
Our normal annual rainfall increased from 42.41 inches to 44.63 inches over the 2001 through 2020 period. Also, May pushed October out of the number one wettest month spot and August moved into the driest month of the year spot which July had held for 27 years.
