Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

February Was Dry Month; Region Still On Plus Side

No one needs to be told February was a dry month.

How dry was it? Well, the normal amount of rain for the second month of the year is 4.08 inches, but a scant 0.62 inches fell during the 28-day period, according to Prescott meteorologist John Teeter. This resulted in a shortfall of 3.46 inches for the month.

However, the region is still on the plus side for the year, because of an extremely wet January. The normal amount of rain for the first two months is 8.59 inches, while 9.36 inches fell. This resulted in a surplus of 0.77 inches.

Davis Benton, Cale's weatherman, said 0.87 inches of rain fell in the southern part of the county during February.

"Even with the dry February," Teeter said, "we are still a slight amount above the yearly total."

It rained four days during the month, with the single largest amount on any one day being 0.35 inches on Feb. 5.

Though Feb. 1999 was a dry month, it wasn't a record.

The average daily temperature for the month was 51.1 degrees. This was 3.9 degrees above the normal temp of 47.2 degrees.

"We did break a previous high record in 1972," Teeter said. The previous high was 70.1 degrees, but it was shattered when the mercury climbed to 74 on Feb. 7, 8 and 10th.

The new record high for a February, though, is 79 degrees. This temperature was reached on Feb. 12.

It reached 76 degrees on Feb. 27 and 78 degrees on Feb. 28.

The low temperature for the month was 25 degrees, recorded on Feb. 22 and 23.

As usual, it was a month of widely varying weather patterns. The high of 79 and low of 30 on the 12th is an extremely wide variation in temperatures.

One unusual event was noted, Teeter said. For about an hour at noon on Feb. 28, the humidity was an incredibly low 12 percent.

"Our hygrometer is not a National Weather Service approved instrument," Teeter said, "but is a good quality commercial instrument which is probably within two or three points of accurate. Even during the 1954 drought, 18 percent was the lowest humidity recorded."

There were two watches or warnings posted during the month. Normally, February sees four of these.

Looking at March, the normal average daily temperature is 55.4 degrees, with the normal rainfall total being 4.80 inches.

There are usually six weather watches or warnings posted during March.