by Barney Leach
January began 2022 under mild drought conditions with only 0.98 inch of rain. We had four days with measureable rainfall with a one-day greatest total of 0.59 inch January 24. Our normal January rainfall is 3.26 inches.
Our record wettest January was 10.25 inches in 1999 and the record driest January was 0.57 inch in 2003. The record wettest January in 1999 was followed by the record driest February over that period.
On the temperature side, my temperature station quit on me. We did have a few days of freezing temperature and frosty morning.
Looking ahead to February:
February is normally our third coldest month of the year, however, we usually have our coldest temperatures around the mid-point of winter which falls on February 4. Our two coldest temperatures over the past 28 years have been 10 degrees on February 4, 1996 and 7 degrees on
February 16, 2021. Our record snowfall over that period was five inches in February 2021.
Our normal February rainfall is 3.31 inches. Our record wettest February over the past 28 years was 9.57 inches of rain in 1997 and the driest February was 0.13 inch in 1999.
Normal rainfall data used was derived from average rainfall over the 20-year period from 2001 through 2020.
The above rainfall and temperature data was recorded by Barney Leach, former co-op weather volunteer for the National Weather Service and former weather volunteer for channel 8 in Dallas, channel 10 in Waco and radio station KNES in Fairfield.
