Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Region Ends Year With Surplus Of Rain Falling

As dry as most of 1998 was, the year, believe it or not, ended on the positive side of rainfall.

According to John W. Teeter, the normal amount of rainfall for the year should have been 56.51 inches, while, in actuality, 57.02 inches fell. This put the area 0.51 inches above normal.

The reason for this surplus of moisture for the year can be found in the amount of rain the area received in December. The normal amount for the 12th month of the year, Teeter said, is 5.28 inches, but the actual total was 5.92 inches, giving the month a 0.64 inch excess.

It rained 12 days during December, Teeter said, with the largest single day amount being 1.2 inches on Dec. 11.

In addition, there were six days during the month having very dense fog, he said. "We haven't been keeping records on foggy days, but December, 1998 could well be a record for fog."

The average temperature for the month was 45.9 degrees. This is a full degree above normal, which is 44.9 degrees.

Going to the extremes, we find the highest the mercury climbed for the month was to 78 on Dec. 6, while the lowest it fell to was 20 on Dec. 26. Neither of these, Teeter said, are records for the month.

But, he continued, there were record temperatures set for individual days. When it reached 76 degrees on Dec. 4, 78 degrees on Dec. 6 and 76 again on Dec. 7, there were record highs for these particular day.

As the month neared its end and Christmas arrived, there was slightly more than a half-inch accumulation of snow and ice on Dec. 23 and 24, he said.

All told, though, December, 1998 was quite normal, according to Teeter. "There was the usual wide range of weather with the first freeze of the year occurring."

But, he added, there were no weather watches or warnings posted for the month, with the usual total being four.

Now, though, we are into the cold weather months, Teeter said. January and February are usually quite cold with the average daily temperatures being 43.4 degrees and 47.2 degrees respectively.

The normal rainfall received during January is 4.51 inches.

"Beginning with the January weather summary," Teeter said, "we will start using Weather Service compiled averages. These averages cover the years 1888 through 1990.

"I have been using my own figures as averages. My figures are arrived at by searching through piles of records and computing with a pencil. These are very much subject to error. The weather service averages are official."