Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

1995 Weather Dry

It was one of the driest years on record in Nevada County, according to the area's resident weathermen.

Davis Benton, who lives in Cale, said only 37.22 inches of rain were recorded for the entire year in the southern part of the county.

J.W. Teeter, who lives in Prescott, recorded 36.77 inches of the wet stuff for the year.

According to Benton, Cale was down 22 inches for the year. From July through most of October, 1995, less than three inches of rain fell. None fell in August, when temperatures topped 100 degrees on 16 days.

Teeter's figures show normal rainfall for December should be 4.30 inches, while only 3.74 inches fell. This left a deficit of .56 inch for the month. However, for the year, Teeter shows the region being 16.59 inches below normal.

Teeter's readings showed the average temperature for the month to be 44.2 degrees, 0.8 degree less than the normal of 45 degrees.

The coldest day of the month was Dec. 10, when the mercury plummeted to 14 degrees. On the other side, the warmest was Dec. 4th when temperatures climbed to 76.

While 1995 will be remembered as a dry year, it was not the driest on record. According to Teeter, the driest year in the area was 1936, when only 31.55 inches of rain fell. On the other hand, the wettest was 1973, when 80.86 inches of rain was recorded.

The driest December on record in Nevada County was 1925, with 0.42 inches of rain. The wettest was 1931, when there was 9.03 inches recorded.

In looking at January, the normal amount of rainfall is 3.76 inches, with the normal average temperature 41.5 degrees.