Spruce pollen washed in to a small puddle during a May rain and was left to dry
The last three days of May this year doubled the rainfall total for the month. Given that we’re in a rain forest here, you might think that meant a substantial storm, but the reality is just a touch over 1/3 of an inch of rain fall at the airport on those days, and the vast majority of that, 0.24 inches, fell as a steady drizzle on the 31st. It seems that May finished up with 0.7 inches total, and 21 out of 31 days there was no recorded precipitation.
Climatically speaking, May is one of the driest months in Sitka, but the average for the month is nearly four and a half inches, so we were well below normal, even in what generally passes for the dry season here. I was curious to see whether there were any drier months, so went back through the handy weather history calendar feature at Weather Underground.
Here’s what I found:
2014 – 0.7 (21 days no measurable rain)
2013 – 5.84 (14 days no measurable rain)
2012 – 6.33 (4 days no measurable rain)
2011 – 1.37 (17 days no measurable rain)
2010 – 1.83 (20 days no measurable rain)
2009 – 1.93 (14 days no measurable rain)
2008 – 3.11 (20 days no measurable rain)
2007 – 4.28 (13 days no measurable rain)
2006 – 6.17 (10 days no measurable rain; 1 day snow)
2005 – 1.16 (15 days no measurable rain)
2004 – 2.34 (21 days no measurable rain)
2003 – 2.86 (17 days no measurable rain)
Which is about as far back as I felt like going for now. That encompasses the time I’ve been out of school and here in Sitka (as an adult) during May. (Most years from 1994-2002 I was not back until very late May or June.)
So it seems this May was the driest in the past decade by a comfortable margin. Now I’m curious how it compares with the driest months – as I know there have also been some other dry months over the years. I’ll wait until I have the data in a form that’s easier to work with before I try to tackle that question, however.
Questions:
- What is the driest month for Sitka on average?
- What is the single driest month on record in Sitka?
- How does the driest 30 day period compare with the driest month?
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