I always record the precipitation we receive at the house and recently did some annual totals to see where we ended up relative to average. I look at annual precipitation from October to October, because that month is usually when we get our first snow of the season. Since we received our first snow of the season On October 4 of this year, I went back a year to the October 4 2010 as my starting point. In order to convert snow to water equivalent, I use 8% multiplied by the snow received. Its not exact, but probably good enough to get a ballpark figure.
Here’s the results:
- Rain: 9.41 inches
- Snow: 47.75 inches
- Total precipitation/water equivalent: 13.3 inches
- Average for Sedalia, CO: 18.25
We were only at around 72% of average, which actually is better than I thought because it seemed like it was a dryer year. If you go 30 miles west of us, the mountains received record precipitation for the year due to the La Nina event. And, if you go 50 miles north of us, they too, received above average precipitation. We seemed to be just south of the dividing line for that above average moisture.
With La Nina returning this year, although not as strong as last year, according to early forecasts, we might have another dry year, but you never know.
Below are data graphs I’ve included.
