On the 18th of February the National Weather Service reported that Seattle had broken a monthly record for rainfall – 22.78 inches in 18 days. On March 1, Cliff Mass a well-known University of Washington meteorology professor announced that it was also the wettest winter in in Seattle history. The surface of our small fenced courtyard is bilious green with slimy moss and the windows are streaked with dried rain.
I had already started an essay on the rain when my son, Brent, who works for the Weather Service in Salt Lake City sent me Professor Mass’ blog. This says it better than I can:
Cliff Mass Weather Blog
The Wettest Winter in Seattle History
At 1 PM today, Seattle weather history was made.
Seattle has received enough precipitation since October 1 to make it the wettest winter in Seattle history.
The water year starts on October 1 and this makes a lot of sense here in the Northwest, since our summers are very dry and the real rain usually does not begin until mid to late October. October 1-March 1 encompasses our meteorological winter and is not an arbitrary period.
- 38.22 2015/16 (as of 1:56 PM)
- 38.19 1998/99
- 37.96 1950/51
- 36.39 1995/96
- 36.06 1955/56
This is a major record.
A plot of the cumulative precipitation at Seattle Tacoma Airport (below) shows that we now have about 13 inches more than normal in the water year, which is very large, of course. The second figure shows the daily rainfall and the associated records each daily (green marks). One is struck by the high frequency of rain this winter and the fact that only a handful of days beat daily records. Slow and steady won the race.
At least the ducks will be happy.
