Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

County Sees Less Rain During August

By JOHN MILLER

August was a dry month in Nevada County.

According to John Teeter, local meteorologist, the Prescott area received 2.32 inches of rain, while Davis Benton, the weatherman from Cale, said the north part of the county got 1.93 inches of moisture during the month.

In fact, Benton said for July and August Cale has only gotten 2.50 inches of rain.

The normal amount of rainfall for an August, Teeter said, is 3.65 inches, but with the shortfall in August, the month ended with a debit of 1.33 inches.

Still, the area is above normal for this time of year. The normal amount of rain is 37.12 inches, while the area has gotten 37.53 inches. This means there is a surplus of 0.41 inches of rain for the year to date.

Teeter said it only rained five days in August, with the largest single day amount being 0.53 inches on Aug. 8.

The only severe weather experienced during the month was on Aug. 21 when a thunderstorm occurred at 4:15 p.m., he said.

Usually, Teeter said, there are four watches or warnings during a typical August.

While this was a dry August, he continued, it is not the driest on record. The worst August for rain was in 1929 when only 0.8 inches of rain fell.

On the other side of the coin, the wettest August occurred in 1974, when 14.53 inches hit the earth in Nevada County. The Labor Day weekend in '74, Teeter said, saw 16.41 inches of rain fall -- the largest three consecutive day total ever recorded in the region.

The high temperature for the month was 98 degrees, recorded Aug. 21, while the low temperature for August was 61 on the 24th and 25th. The low high of 66 degrees on Aug. 8 was an all time record for a low high during the month. The high temperature of 76 on Aug. 23 is a record for that day only.

Having cold days in August in not unusual, Teeter said. In 1926, the mercury climbed to 70, while the low for the day was 66 degrees. In 1915, the day's high was 72, with a low of 52 recorded. On Aug. 31, 1915, however, the high reading only reached 52 degrees, making it the all time low for an August in Nevada County.

Teeter said the average temperature for August was 78.2 degrees, three degrees below the normal of 81.2.

Looking at September, he said the average temperature is 74.9 degrees, while the normal rainfall for the month is 4.29 inches -- making for some wet football games.

Since the drought of 1980 and winter of 1983, Teeter said, this area has not experienced extreme weather.

"This is just a reminder," he said, "of what can happen. This is just some of the weirdest weather ever experienced in Prescott."

The year was 1930, there were 58 days when the mercury climbed to 100 degrees or higher, with the highest temperature being 112.

There were 36 days during the winter of '30 when below freezing temperatures were recorded. The lowest was four below zero.

In May, 1930, Teeter said, 12.91 inches of rain fell. However, only 5.9 inches of rain touched the ground for the next four months.

"This was the year that started the "Dust Bowl" period," he said. "Together with the great depression the drought made things very hard for people in the middle of the United States."