Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Old wives' tale fairly accurate for January's weather

An old wive's tale states if it rains on the first day of a month, it will rain 15 days during the month.

January began with rain, and saw it rain the first seven days of the month, and the last four days. It also rained one other day, almost proving the old maxim to be right.

Phillip McAdams, Prescott weather watcher, said the area received 4.87 inches of rain for the month, with 3.09 inches falling from Jan. 1-7. Another 0.9 inch fell on Jan. 12, with 0.88 inch falling Jan. 27-31.

The periodic rains never gave the ground time to dry out.

Davis Benton, Cale's meteorologist, said 5.03 inches of rain fell in the south part of Nevada County, which is about an inch-and-a-half above normal for a January.

Benton said it rained 10 days out of the month, and was cloudy on most other days.

According to Benton, the warmest day during January was 72, while the coldest temperature recorded was 18 degrees.

McAdams agreed with the high temperature being 72 in Prescott as well. This temp was recorded on Jan. 4.

The low, he said, was 20 degrees on Jan. 23-24.

McAdams said the daily high temperatures for the month ranged from a pleasant 72 degrees to a chilly 38, recorded on Jan. 23. The lows for January ranged from a warm 61 on Jan. 12, to 20 degrees on Jan. 23-24.

The average daily high was 57 degrees in Prescott, while the average daily low was 39.