Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

2004 a wet year weatherwise

Not only did the area have somewhat of a white Christmas, the county ended the year above normal in rainfall.

Davis Benton, Cale meteorologist said the south part of Nevada County received 3.17 inches of rain during December, bringing the year's total to 60.92 inches. This, he said, is roughly seven inches above normal.

Benton said Cale received an inch of snow on December 23. One inch of snow is equivalent to a tenth of an inch of rain.

Phillip McAdams, Prescott weather watcher, said 2.6 inches of rain fell during the month, along with half an inch of snow on Dec. 22.

The rain, he said, fell in two periods during the month. The first time from Dec. 5-7, and the next time on Dec. 22-23.

This, he said, brought the year's total to 61.72 inches in Prescott.

Benton said the low temperature for the month in Cale dipped to a frigid 15 degrees, while the high was a comfortable 70.

McAdams said the lowest the mercury fell in Prescott was a cold 16 degrees on Dec. 23 and 26. Oddly enough, the month's high was recorded on Dec. 30, when the temperature climbed to 70 degrees.

This brought the average daily low to 32 and the average daily high to 55.

According to McAdams, 16 was the lowest the temperature got during the year, while the hottest it got in 2004 was 92 on several different occasions.

January, and 2005, got off to a wet start with rain falling six of the first seven days of the month, including Jan. 1. According to the old wive's tales, if it rains on the first day of the month, it will rain 15 days during the month. So far, this is proving to be true in January.