Ticker for June 25, 2004

                
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June 25, 2004      June 25, 2004      June 25, 2004      June 25, 2004




News Flash: The Last Week Was Wet!

The Ticker hotline has been ablaze with requests to compare the
recent multi-day rainfall to history.  Unfortunately, the Ticker
Staff's family thermometer has been ablaze with febrile fury,
so this is coming a couple days late:

The statewide-averaged rainfall of 2.61" represents the largest
five-day June rain total since (cue brass band) ... 1995 (and fizzle).
In fact, it just sneaks into the top fifteen, as far as June events
go.  Here's a breakdown of historical events exceeding 2.5 inches.
Several qualifying periods overlapped (i.e., the 8th-12th qualified,
as did the 9th-13th, etc.).  In these cases, the maximum five-day
value was chosen.

Year 5-day period  Total
1948 (20th-24th)   4.14"
1941 (6th-10th)    3.45"
1985 (3rd-7th)     3.28"
1945 (8th-12th)    3.15"
1958 (17th-21st)   3.08"
1973 (M31st-4th)   3.03"
1989 (4th-8th)     2.98"
1979 (6th-10th)    2.88"
1995 (2nd-6th)     2.88"
1935 (14th-18th)   2.77"
1942 (6th-10th)    2.74"
1989 (10th-14th)   2.74"
1974 (5th-9th)     2.66"
2004 (18th-22nd)   2.61" **
1921 (20th-24th)   2.60"
1923 (7th-11th)    2.51

So, what does all this mean?  It means that June rains, when they happen,
can come in large doses.

It is also interesting to note that, despite the recent deluge, several
rainfall categories are significantly below normal:

http://climate.mesonet.org/drought/

Note the 60-day running total lies in the driest quarter of history for
most of the state.