Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Surplus Rain Falls In March

It has been a while since Nevada County was on the plus side when it comes to rain.

But this happened in March as 5.02 inches of rain fell during the month. The average amount is 4.80 inches of rainfall. This led to a "surplus" of 0.22 inches.

As nice as it was to see an abundance of rain during the month, the region is still considerably below normal for this time of the year.

According to John Teeter, local meteorologist, the normal amount of rain the area should have received by now is 13.39 inches. However, only 9.79 inches has fallen, leaving a deficit of 3.60 inches for the first three months of 2000.

Cale weatherman Davis Benton said the south part of the county received 6.92 inches of rain during March, but is still down for the year.

This, he said, was the heaviest monthly rainfall the area has gotten in the last 12 months and brings the total to 11.68 inches for Y2K.

The high temperature for March was 85, with the low being 30, he said.

Teeter said there were four weather watches or warnings posted during March, but this is two less than usual as there are normally six.

It rained nine days in March with the largest single day's amount being 1.30 inches on March 16.

The average temperature was higher than normal, Teeter said. The normal average daily temperature in March is 55.8 degrees. This year, though, it was 56.8 degrees, a full degree higher than usual.

The biggest weather threat during the third month of the year was possible tornadoes on March 26.

Teeter said a tornado probably occurred in the south part of the county between 10 and 10:30 p.m. on this night. Some trees and poultry houses were damaged by the storm, but no one was injured.

March, he said, is the first month since Oct. 1999 the area has received higher than normal rainfall totals. While the rain helped, Teeter added, the area is still extremely dry.

"March furnished its usual erratic weather," he said.

Looking toward April, Teeter said the normal amount of rain during the fourth month of the year is 5.25 inches while the average daily temperature warms to a pleasant 64.3 degrees.

However, with spring fully underway the weather can get rough, he said. April normally brings with it seven weather watches or warnings.

"April, with seven warnings, and May with eight," Teeter said, "are our stormiest months."