Is Our Rainfall Getting Back to Normal? (10-2-12)
With the showers coming through today I thought it would be a good day to re-visit the drought conditions across central New York.The rain over the last few weeks has certainly been more consistent than during the heart of the summer season and my lawn is turning a nice emerald green again but we are still lacking for rain. The numbers I’m going to present are from Hancock Field so they likely vary from location to location but they at least give us a snapshot.| Month | Days With Rain | Rainfall | Rainfall Deficit |
| May | 12 | 3.15” | -.07” |
| June | 12 | 2.28” | -1.03” |
| July | 9 | 1.84” | -1.94” |
| August | 8 | 2.27” | -1.30” |
| September | 13 | 3.11” | -.58” |
In spite of the rain over the last month, we still ended up below normal for September but I looked back throughout the year and only January had a surplus of precipitation. You add up the deficits for every month and we are still running 6.14” below normal.Through last week central New York was still under “Moderate Drought” but there has been improvement over northern New York and close to Rochester.
A new drought map comes out on Thursday morning so we’ll see how things change with rain from over the weekend.So even though your lawn may look better than anytime since Spring we still need rain. With the growing season just about over, any rain the rest of the fall is not going to help farmers or gardeners this season but it is going to help the water table for next year.
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