Alarming Trend in 2012 Rainfall
I was thinking that 2012 had turned dry all of a sudden, but when you look at the actual rainfall totals for the first four months of 2012, there is an decidedly alarming trend!
As you can see in the table below, we started the year out nicely in January with about an inch more than we typically receive for that month. And while there were plenty of days with rainfall in February and March, each of those months saw deficits that combine to just over two inches. Then the bottom fell out of April. As I noted in a previous post, April, 2012, was the 6th driest April on record for Birmingham since 1900! The deficit rainfall for April was 3.12 inches.
So far for 2012, we have a deficit of just over 4 inches, 4.14 inches to be exact. So I’m pulling for this weak disturbance that is moving through the Southeast US to bring us a good soaking tonight and tomorrow.
-Brian-
Table of Monthly Rainfall for 2012
| Month | Actual Rainfall | 30-Yr Avg Rain | Difference |
| Jan | 5.90″ | 4.84″ | +1.06″ |
| Feb | 2.96″ | 4.53″ | -1.57″ |
| Mar | 4.72″ | 5.23″ | -0.51″ |
| Apr | 1.26″ | 4.38″ | -3.12″ |
| Total | 14.84″ | 18.98″ | -4.14″ |
Category: Alabama's Weather
About the Author (Author Profile)
Brian Peters is one of the television meteorologists at ABC3340 in Birmingham and a retired NWS Warning Coordination Meteorologist. He handles the weekend Weather Xtreme Videos and forecast discussion and is the Webmaster for the popular WeatherBrains podcast.Subscribe
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