Rain Totals from overnight:
KFAR (Hector Int’l) 2.39”
NDSU: 0.75”
WDAY: 0.73”
North Moorhead 0.74”
South Fargo 0.87”
Grand Forks Airport 1.96”
Grand Forks NWS 2.07”
Grand Forks South 2.31”
Pelican Rapids 3.62”
West Fargo (South) 0.80”
Devils Lake 2.71”
Detroit Lakes 0.62”
Fergus Falls 1.56”
Bemidji 0.56″
Grafton 0.00″
Moorhead Airport 1.15″
Kindred 4.50″
Valley City 0.01″
A week ago much of Minnesota and some portions of eastern North Dakota were listed as either abnormally dry or in minor (D1) drought conditions. That changed quickly last week in central and eastern Minnesota when 3-5 inches of rain fell prompting flood warnings to be issued. Yet, that system stayed to our east keeping the local area dry and still waiting for rain. Our turn came on Saturday Night into Sunday morning when much of west central Minnesota recorded 2-4 inches of rain with localized higher totals.
Fargo Moorhead ended up right on the edge of that system with much of Moorhead receiving over 2 inches of rain, where as parts of West Fargo up towards NDSU only recorded near 1 inch.
It was a reminder that our wet phase is likely not over and we continue to be just one heavy rain system away from being over saturated with flooding problems once again.
Last month the official rain total in Fargo Moorhead was 0.94 inches, well below our current average of 2.22 inches. It continued our recent run over dry weather that we have experienced locally since the middle of August. Since August 7 only 1.59 inches of rain has been recorded at the airport. That is the 2nd driest such stretch on record with only 1976 being drier.
Although similar dry stretches have occurred, even during our current wet phase, because of how wet we were this year before this recent stretch has made this temporary dry spell very noticeable. After nearly one inch of rain was recorded on August 6, we were running 7.85 inches above normal for rainfall for the year. The dry conditions in the past two months have lowered that surplus to only 2.58 inches as of the end of October.
Even if we remain exceptionally dry through the end of the year, 2011 is already guaranteed to be our 8th wetter than average year in the past decade.
Aristotle in is book Meteorologica, written in 340 BC, wrote about the different types of precipitation, yet, there was no mention of the actual measurement of rain or snow. It would take well over another millennium before the concept of measuring rainfall would become an active practice.
The earliest known attempt to measure precipitation occurred inKoreaduring the reign of King Sejong who lived from 1397 to 1450. King Sejong is credited with coming up with the idea of measuring rainfall in a standardize container. This container was approximately 30 centimeters in depth and about 14 centimeters in diameter and stood on a pillar to measure the rainfall. These containers were distributed to all the villages. With this new knowledge of rainfall distribution, King Sejong could better estimate the potential harvest in each village and in turn, know how much the farmers should be taxed.
This first attempt to measure rainfall is credited to have occurred in the fourth month of 1441.
This summer it has been common for there to be thunderstorms, often with severe weather, in this area on one of the two days of nearly every weekend since Memorial Day. Plus, conventional wisdom is that it always rains on weekends. Yet, statistically there is not an increase in rain during weekends; in fact, just the opposite may be true.
A recent paper published in the Journal of Geophysical Research found evidence that in the United States during the summertime, tornado and hailstorm activity peaks during the workweek in the same time frame that atmospheric aerosols (think manmade pollution) peak. It is thought that this increase in particulates in the air invigorate thunderstorm activity. According to this study, Saturday and Sundays have the lowest probability of severe weather of all the days of summer.
The study looked at data between 1995 and 2009. Perhaps if the summer of 2011, at least in our area was included in this study, it may have skewed the data toward the weekends just a bit.
This past Monday, another heavy rain event struck the area. Particularly hard hit were residents in southwestern Richland County and neighboring areas in northeastern South Dakota.
Some locations received around 2 inches of rain in less than 30 minutes with reports of raindrops describe as large as quarters by some residents. But can a raindrop actually become that large? The answer simply is no. In fact, raindrops larger than 8 millimeters (mm) are extremely rare and most raindrops are only around 1 mm in diameter (there are about 25 mm in one inch).
That same day a brief shower passed over Fargo Moorhead with very large drops which were likely similar to what fell in the heavy rain event to our south which makes me believe that the raindrops where likely in the 5 to 8 mm diameter range. When you are use to seeing 1 mm raindrops, it is easy to see how something multiple times larger than average will give the illusion of the raindrops being larger than they really were.
June had been a dry month until last week. Over the first 14 days of the month, Fargo Moorhead rainfall was a meager 0.13 inches. Two rain days the third week brought us to 0.89 inches through June 20. Then the deluge started.
Last Tuesday and Wednesday, we got 2.18 inches. This was followed by 1.10 inches on Sunday from two separate rains; one in the very early morning followed by a brief downpour Sunday evening. More light rain Monday morning brings the June total up to 4.31 inches at this point. This is wet and we certainly do not need any more rain this month. However, this does not compare to some of the really wet June months in recent years. In June of 2000, we received 11.71 inches of rain.
June of 1975 (the year of our worst summertime flood, Fargo Moorhead received 9.40 inches of rain during June. Monthly rain totals of this magnitude are being reported at many locations across western North Dakota this year.
Although we may see more rain before midnight tonight, here are some of the preliminary totals for the month around the area. A high percentage of the area had totals well within the bound of “normal” for the month. With thunderstorms you always get differences from spot to spot for exceptions.
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND 901 PM CDT WED JUN 29 2011 ...PRELIMINARY RAINFALL TOTALS JUNE 1 THROUGH JUNE 29TH 2011... A SERIES OF STORM SYSTEMS AT THE END OF JUNE HAS MADE THIS MONTH A WET ONE IN MANY SPOTS. HERE ARE SOME PRELIMINARY RAINFALL TOTALS THROUGH JUNE 29TH. DATA BELOW IS FROM NDAWN SITES AND FROM AUTOMATED AWOS/ASOS LOCATIONS IN THE AREA. THE TOTALS BELOW ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE AND HAVE NOT BEEN QUALITY CONTROLLED. ...NORTH DAKOTA AGRICULTURE NETWORK (NDAWN)... LOCATION (COUNTY/STATE)..........................AMOUNT (IN) ADA 1N (NORMAN MN).................................2.62 BAKER 1N (BENSON ND)...............................3.64 BRITTON 2E (MARSHALL SD)...........................2.99 CANDO 2SE (TOWNER ND)..............................2.09 CARRINGTON 4N (FOSTER ND)..........................3.43 CAVALIER 5W (PEMBINA ND)...........................4.21 CRARY 1E (RAMSEY ND)...............................3.03 DAZEY 2E (BARNES ND)...............................6.38 EKRE (SHEYENNE GRASSLANDS RANSOM ND)...............5.30 ELDRED 2N (POLK MN)................................2.68 FARGO NDSU (CASS ND)...............................3.97 FINGAL 4W (BARNES ND)..............................4.69 FOREST RIVER 7 WNW (WALSH ND)......................3.88 GALESBURG 4 SSW (CASS ND)..........................4.03 GRAFTON 10E (WALSH ND).............................5.51` GRAND FORKS 3S (GRAND FORKS ND)....................2.89 GREENBUSH 7W (ROSEAU MN)...........................3.31 HILLSBORO 7SE (TRAILL ND)..........................4.22 HUMBOLDT 4S (KITTSON MN)...........................4.56 INKSTER 3W (GRAND FORKS ND)........................4.78 LANGDON 1E (CAVALIER ND)...........................2.70 LEONARD 5N (CASS ND)...............................3.81 LISBON 2W (RANSOM ND)..............................6.23 MAVIE 3WSW (PENNINGTON MN).........................3.52 MAYVILLE 2E (TRAILL ND)............................3.81 MCHENRY 8N (EDDY ND)...............................4.94 MICHIGAN 2W (NELSON ND)............................4.53 OAKES 4S (DICKEY ND)...............................5.43 PERLEY 6E (NORMAN MN)..............................3.52 PILLSBURY 1N (BARNES ND)...........................3.37 PROSPER 5NW (CASS ND)..............................5.18 ROLLA 2S (ROLETTE ND)..............................2.43 RUGBY 2W (PIERCE ND)...............................3.19 SABIN 2ND (CLAY MN)................................3.74 ST THOMAS 2WSW (PEMBINA ND)........................3.91 STEPHEN 8 ENE (MARSHALL MN)........................4.10 WAHPETON 6N (RICHLAND ND)..........................3.44 WARREN 6SW (POLK MN)...............................3.03 WYNDMERE 2E (RICHLAND ND)..........................4.70 ...SELECTED AIRPORT AWOS/ASOS LOCATIONS... K9D7 CANDO.........................................1.82 K86D WALHALLA......................................4.24 KADC WADENA........................................2.31 KBDE BAUDETTE......................................3.48 KBJI BEMIDJI.......................................3.10 KD55 LANGDON.......................................3.10 KDTL DETROIT LAKES.................................3.71 KDVL DEVILS LAKE...................................2.67 KFAR FARGO.........................................4.41 KFGN FLAG ISLAND...................................2.62 KFFM FERGUS FALLS..................................1.86 KFSE FOSSTON.......................................3.18 *CORRECTION* KGAF GRAFTON.......................................5.44 KGFK GRAND FORKS...................................3.34 KGWR GWINNER.......................................2.87 KHCO HALLOCK.......................................3.29 KJKJ MOORHEAD......................................4.42 KPKD PARK RAPIDS...................................4.46 KRDR GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE....................4.39 KROX ROSEAU........................................3.69 KRRT WARROAD.......................................4.19 KS32 COOPERSTOWN...................................2.52 KY63 ELBOW LAKE....................................2.09 ...OTHER LOCATIONS... NWS GRAND FORKS (GRAND FORKS ND)...................4.60 BINFORD (GRIGGS ND)................................4.14 DEVILS LAKE - RADIOWORKS (RAMSEY ND)...............3.11 HOLT 15E (CLIMATE STATION) (MARSHALL MN)...........5,94 BEMIDJI 7N - LONG LAKE (BELTRAMI MN)...............4.02
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND
846 PM CDT TUE JUN 21 2011
...RAINFALL TOTALS THROUGH 7 PM FOR AUTOMATED AWOS/ASOS SITES...
THIS DATA SHOULD BE CONSIDERED PRELIMINARY AS IT HAS NOT BEEN
QUALITY CONTROLLED...
...NORTH DAKOTA...
FARGO ASOS............................1.72
GRAFTON AWOS..........................0.36
NWS GRAND FORKS.......................0.80
GWINNER AWOS..........................1.06
COOPERSTOWN AWOS......................0.36
DEVILS LAKE AWOS......................0.13
WALHALLA AWOS.........................0.02
LANGDON AWOS..........................0.09
CANDO AWOS............................0.07
VALLEY CITY AWOS......................0.82
...MINNESOTA...
MOORHEAD AWOS.........................1.70
DETROIT LAKES AWOS....................0.73
FERGUS FALLS AWOS.....................0.38
ELBOW LAKE AWOS.......................0.41
BEMIDJI AWOS..........................0.68
PARK RAPIDS ASOS......................0.36
WADENA AWOS...........................0.64
STAPLES AWOS..........................0.68
FOSSTON AWOS..........................0.67
BAUDETTE ASOS.........................0.43
WARROAD AWOS..........................0.28
HALLOCK AWOS..........................0.20
Here is the totals through 7:00 AM this morning:
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND
1138 AM CDT WED JUN 22 2011
...3-DAY RAINFALL ROUND-UP...
THE FOLLOWING ARE RAIN AMOUNTS FOR THE PREVIOUS 24-HOURS
AS MEASURED IN THE MORNING BY NWS COOPERATIVE OBSERVERS AND
AUTOMATED GAGES.
OBSERVATIONS ARE USUALLY TAKEN AT 7 AM.
24-HOUR RAINFALL REPORTS:
***************** WEDNESDAY (06/22/11) **************
NORTH DAKOTA RAIN
LOCATION (COUNTY): FALL (IN)
KINDRED (CASS)................................2.60
LIDGERWOOD (RICHLAND).........................2.34
FARGO 5SW (CASS)..............................2.16
NDAWN AT CAVALIER (PEMBINA)...................2.04
MAPLETON (CASS)...............................2.04
WEST FARGO 4SSE (CASS)........................2.04
FARGO 3NE (CASS)..............................2.03
ASOS AT FARGO AIRPORT (CASS)..................1.96
FARGO 2SE (CASS)..............................1.92
GRAFTON ARPT (WALSH)..........................1.86
FARGO 1ESE (CASS).............................1.84
CAYUGA (SARGENT)..............................1.75
ASOS AT GRAND FORKS AFB (GRAND FORKS).........1.73
WALHALLA HS SNOW SITE (PEMBINA)...............1.70
MAYVILLE (TRAILL).............................1.62
MINTO (WALSH).................................1.61
HARWOOD (CASS)................................1.56
LITTLE PEMBINA RIVER (CAVALIER)...............1.50
NDAWN AT WYNDMERE (RICHLAND)..................1.50
FORMAN (SARGENT)..............................1.49
NDAWN AT GALESBURG (TRAILL)...................1.49
CAVALIER (PEMBINA)............................1.42
HAVANA (SARGENT)..............................1.38
LANKIN 6E (WALSH).............................1.37
NDAWN AT HILLSBORO (TRAILL)...................1.34
NDAWN AT WAHPETON (RICHLAND)..................1.33
BUFFALO (CASS)................................1.29
SARLES 5NE (CAVALIER).........................1.25
PEMBINA (PEMBINA).............................1.02
OSLO 3WNW (WALSH).............................1.00
GRAND FORKS NWS (GRAND FORKS).................0.96
GRAND FORKS 1SW (GRAND FORKS).................0.95
COOPERSTOWN AWOS (GRIGGS).....................0.93
ASOS AT GRAND FORKS AP (GRAND FORKS)..........0.91
NDAWN AT PILLSBURY (BARNES)...................0.85
NEW ROCKFORD 9WNW (EDDY)......................0.84
NDAWN AT LANGDON (CAVALIER)...................0.78
NDAWN AT MCHENRY (EDDY).......................0.78
VALLEY CITY 2NW (BARNES)......................0.74
LANKIN 9SW (WALSH)............................0.63
NEW ROCKFORD 1ESE (EDDY)......................0.56
NEW ROCKFORD 7ESE (EDDY)......................0.54
VALLEY CITY ARPT (BARNES).....................0.47
NDAWN AT MICHIGAN 2W (NELSON).................0.47
NDAWN AT BAKER (BENSON).......................0.46
NDAWN AT CANDO (TOWNER).......................0.46
STARKWEATHER (RAMSEY).........................0.46
WALES 5SE (CAVALIER)..........................0.46
CHURCHS FERRY (RAMSEY)........................0.43
MICHIGAN UCOOP (NELSON).......................0.36
AWOS AT DEVILS LAKE (RAMSEY)..................0.33
MINNESOTA RAIN
LOCATION (COUNTY): FALL (IN)
SABIN (CLAY)..................................2.45
NDAWN AT STEPHEN (MARSHALL)...................1.79
OTTERTAIL (OTTER TAIL)........................1.67
NDAWN AT PERLEY (NORMAN)......................1.42
GREENBUSH (ROSEAU)............................1.19
BEMIDJI (BELTRAMI)............................1.08
AWOS AT ROSEAU (ROSEAU).......................1.06
AWOS AT THIEF RIVER FALLS (PENNINGTON)........0.99
ARGYLE (MARSHALL).............................0.98
ROOSEVELT 5N (LAKE OF THE WOODS)..............0.97
ASOS AT BAUDETTE (LAKE OF THE WOODS)..........0.96
LANCASTER (KITTSON)...........................0.94
AWOS AT BEMIDJI (BELTRAMI)....................0.93
BEMIDJI 8NE (BELTRAMI)........................0.88
ELBOW LAKE VILLAGE 8ENE (CLEARWATER)..........0.83
AWOS AT HALLOCK (KITTSON).....................0.80
ROTHSAY (WILKIN)..............................0.80
TAMARAC WILDLIFE REFUGE (BECKER)..............0.76
AWOS AT WARROAD (LAKE OF THE WOODS)...........0.75
UNDERWOOD 8NNE (OTTER TAIL)...................0.70
SEBEKA (WADENA)...............................0.66
WARROAD (ROSEAU)..............................0.63
ASOS AT PARK RAPIDS (HUBBARD).................0.60
AWOS AT ELBOW LAKE AWOS (GRANT)...............0.39
AWOS AT FLAG ISLAND (LAKE OF THE WOODS).......0.31
AWOS AT FERGUS FALLS (OTTER TAIL).............0.29
AWOS AT FOSSTON (POLK)........................0.28
AWOS AT DETROIT LAKES (BECKER)................0.26
AWOS AT WADENA (WADENA).......................0.25
When referencing climate normals, this refers to the average of a given weather variable during the previous 30 years of record keeping. To eliminate the frequent changing of these normals every year, the averages are based on the previous three full decades. Therefore, until this year, our climatic normals were based on the period from 1971 through 2000.
Since January 1, 2011, our averages are based on the period from 1981 through 2010. These new climate statistics which are still being calculated will stay the same until January 1, 2021 when the new climate statistics for all locations will be based on the period from 1991 through 2020. The first 30 years of record keeping in Fargo Moorhead was from 1881 until 1910 when our average rainfall was 24.40 inches and then average rainfall locally declined until around 1960 when our average was 18.45 inches.
Our current wet cycle has cause a rapid increase in our average annual rainfall which is currently 22.75 inches, the highest since that first 30 year average in 1910.
