News
Annual rainfall comes up short; county in a drought
By Bill Hess/Wick Communications
SIERRA VISTA - The rain that fell in the Sierra Vista area in 2006 was just short of the normal annual amount for a year.
According to the main weather gauge on Fort Huachuca, 14.98 inches of rain fell last year, which was 0.02 of an inch less than the 15-inch annual amount that is expected. Going back to 1999, only the year 2000 saw an above average rainfall, when 18.29 inches of rain was measured at the post site.
Cochise County is in a drought, albeit at the lower level of the scale and that is categorized as dry, said Steve Reedy, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Tucson.
Based on 15 inches a year being the average rainfall for the immediate Sierra Vista area, to include much of the post, 120 inches should have been measured during the past eight years, but only 99.51 inches were, making a deficit of 20.49 inches.
While the fort and city of Sierra Vista average is 15 inches, other parts of the county could have higher or lower amounts, experts say.
Reedy said the federal Climate Prediction Center expects the remaining of the winter and the spring season to see a slightly above average rainfall.
"It should be looked at cautiously because we don't receive much rain and three extra drops could mean a little above average," he said of the spring prediction.
Looking back at the post records from the Electronic Proving Ground's Meteorological Section, the average rainfall for March, April and May during the past eight years is a little more than 0.96 of an inch.
A wetter winter season looks more favorable, Reedy said.
Indications are that more rain will fall in late January and into February, he said. The seven-year average, since the winter of 2006 and 2007 is not complete, is a little more than 1.13 inches.
As for the summer monsoon, Reedy said it too early to predict what will happen.
"There are some out there with their Ouija boards making predictions," he said.
The water in the Pacific is warming up, which could lead to a moderate summer monsoon. The driving factor, El Nino, "is a misbehaving boy and being a little bit stubborn (in developing)," Reedy said.
Larry Martinez, a state water supply specialist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, said the lack of a good snow base also is an indication the drought, which he said really began in 1996, is nowhere close to ending.
In the northern part of the state, the snowfall is 60 percent less than average.
While Martinez doesn't monitor snowfall in places such as the Huachuca Mountains, a spokesman for the Sierra Vista Ranger District of the Coronado National Forest said not much snow accumulated in the late part of 2006 based on a gauge in the Carr Canyon area.
Michael Shinstock, assistant fire management officer for the district, said the gauge registered about a half inch of moisture. He said that equates to between 10 and 12 inches falling on the Huachuca Mountains. Based on the moisture content of snow, it takes between 10 inches and a foot of snow to create an inch of water.
Reedy said Mother Nature will have the final say on the weather patterns ahead.
"And she's awfully fickle," he said.
The average annual rainfall in the Sierra Vista/Fort Huachuca area is 15 inches. It could be more or less in other parts of Herald/Review's readership area.
The following are the amounts for the past eight years in Sierra Vista and on Fort Huachuca:
-- 2006 - 14.98 inches. Wettest month was July with 4.20 inches.
-- 2005 - 11.05 inches. Wettest month was August with 3.83 inches.
-- 2004 - 11.55 inches. Wettest month was August with 2.63 inches.
-- 2003 - 12.65 inches. Wettest month was July with 4.54 inches.
-- 2002 - 8.71 inches. Wettest month was July with 3.13 inches.
-- 2001 - 14.18 inches. Wettest month was August with 3.14 inches.
-- 2000 - 18.29 inches. Wettest month was October with 5.65 inches.
-- 1999 - 8.10 inches. Wettest month was July with 3.39 inches.
Source: Electronic Proving Ground's Meteorological Section on Fort Huachuca
Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
According to the main weather gauge on Fort Huachuca, 14.98 inches of rain fell last year, which was 0.02 of an inch less than the 15-inch annual amount that is expected. Going back to 1999, only the year 2000 saw an above average rainfall, when 18.29 inches of rain was measured at the post site.
Cochise County is in a drought, albeit at the lower level of the scale and that is categorized as dry, said Steve Reedy, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Tucson.
Based on 15 inches a year being the average rainfall for the immediate Sierra Vista area, to include much of the post, 120 inches should have been measured during the past eight years, but only 99.51 inches were, making a deficit of 20.49 inches.
While the fort and city of Sierra Vista average is 15 inches, other parts of the county could have higher or lower amounts, experts say.
Reedy said the federal Climate Prediction Center expects the remaining of the winter and the spring season to see a slightly above average rainfall.
"It should be looked at cautiously because we don't receive much rain and three extra drops could mean a little above average," he said of the spring prediction.
Looking back at the post records from the Electronic Proving Ground's Meteorological Section, the average rainfall for March, April and May during the past eight years is a little more than 0.96 of an inch.
A wetter winter season looks more favorable, Reedy said.
Indications are that more rain will fall in late January and into February, he said. The seven-year average, since the winter of 2006 and 2007 is not complete, is a little more than 1.13 inches.
As for the summer monsoon, Reedy said it too early to predict what will happen.
"There are some out there with their Ouija boards making predictions," he said.
The water in the Pacific is warming up, which could lead to a moderate summer monsoon. The driving factor, El Nino, "is a misbehaving boy and being a little bit stubborn (in developing)," Reedy said.
Larry Martinez, a state water supply specialist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, said the lack of a good snow base also is an indication the drought, which he said really began in 1996, is nowhere close to ending.
In the northern part of the state, the snowfall is 60 percent less than average.
While Martinez doesn't monitor snowfall in places such as the Huachuca Mountains, a spokesman for the Sierra Vista Ranger District of the Coronado National Forest said not much snow accumulated in the late part of 2006 based on a gauge in the Carr Canyon area.
Michael Shinstock, assistant fire management officer for the district, said the gauge registered about a half inch of moisture. He said that equates to between 10 and 12 inches falling on the Huachuca Mountains. Based on the moisture content of snow, it takes between 10 inches and a foot of snow to create an inch of water.
Reedy said Mother Nature will have the final say on the weather patterns ahead.
"And she's awfully fickle," he said.
The average annual rainfall in the Sierra Vista/Fort Huachuca area is 15 inches. It could be more or less in other parts of Herald/Review's readership area.
The following are the amounts for the past eight years in Sierra Vista and on Fort Huachuca:
-- 2006 - 14.98 inches. Wettest month was July with 4.20 inches.
-- 2005 - 11.05 inches. Wettest month was August with 3.83 inches.
-- 2004 - 11.55 inches. Wettest month was August with 2.63 inches.
-- 2003 - 12.65 inches. Wettest month was July with 4.54 inches.
-- 2002 - 8.71 inches. Wettest month was July with 3.13 inches.
-- 2001 - 14.18 inches. Wettest month was August with 3.14 inches.
-- 2000 - 18.29 inches. Wettest month was October with 5.65 inches.
-- 1999 - 8.10 inches. Wettest month was July with 3.39 inches.
Source: Electronic Proving Ground's Meteorological Section on Fort Huachuca
Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
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