Dry Spring

[moose tracks]

It seems to me that this year has been very dry. We had below normal snowfall this winter and now we are seeing less than normal spring precipitation. How far below normal are we?

[Scott]

Here is data going back to last July from the Laconia airport. I'm becoming pretty certain there is an issue with the rain gauge there, which began last summer. The differences between the airport and essentially every station around it are too startling and consistent to ignore. It's been dry, but no where near as dry the airport data suggests.

Jul: 7.60 Average: 3.81
Aug: 2.44 Average: 3.44
Sep: .48 Average: 3.00
Oct: 2.45 Average: 3.45
Nov: 1.49 Average: 3.51
Dec: 2.77 Average: 3.04
Jan: .50 Average: 2.75
Feb: 1.14 Average: 2.29
Mar: 1.88 Average: 2.76
Apr: .46 Average: 3.25
May: .57 Average: 3.28
Jun: 1.16 Average: 3.56 (so far)

Below is data from my gauge for the same time. My gauge is of the automatic tipping-bucket type, which are widely known to under-report actual rainfall, rather than overestimate. With that in mind:

Jul: 7.73
Aug: 3.65
Sep: 1.16
Oct: 6.37
Nov: 2.91
Dec: 2.43
Jan: 1.31
Feb: 3.79
Mar: 5.30
Apr: 2.14
May: 1.42
Jun: 2.01 (so far)