July 3, 2008

Almaden resident follows rain, temperature totals

Almaden resident and amateur weatherman Arsen Muger has put together a report of the rain and temperatures for the 2007-08 rainfall year (July 1 to June 30) and presented these facts to his neighbors as well as the Almaden Times.

During the rain year, Almaden had 42 days when precipitation fell, with the vast majority being substantially under 1 inch. However, during January there were 14 days of rain totaling 11.94 inches of rain.

The highest total for the year, 5.02 inches, occurred on Jan. 4 and 1.30 inches fell on Jan. 5 and smaller amounts through Jan. 10. Beginning Jan. 21, it rained every day for the rest of the month, except for Jan. 29 and Jan. 31. According to Muger’s statistics it rained 0.91 inches on Jan. 22; 1.11 inches on Jan. 25 and 1.03 inches on Jan. 27.

February had nine days of rain with the largest amount, 1.81 inches, falling on Feb. 24. Oddly enough, there were small amounts of rain for six straight days from Feb. 19 through Feb. 24. A total of 3.79 inches fell during February. It just seemed like a lot more.

This year’s rainfall was 19.66 inches, on the low end of Muger’s scale, but not the lowest. That total was the previous year with only 11.16 inches. The highest year was 1997-98 when 36.03 inches fell. Muger has been keeping records for the past 25 years and 11 of those have received more rain than this year.

The year’s hottest temperatures were in July (104 degrees), August (106 degrees), September (99 degrees), April (95 degrees), May (104 degrees) and June (109 degrees). The lowest temperatures were in November (34 degrees), December (31 degrees), January (31 degrees), February (33 degrees) and April (35 degrees).

According to Muger, Almaden residents endured 10 days of 100-degree weather; 47 days of 90-degree weather, 74 days of 80 degrees; 81 days of 70 degrees, 96 days of 60-degree weather and two days of 40-degree weather. On the low temperature side, there were no days where the low was in the 70s or the 20s. But there were 30 days when the low was in the 60s; 128 when the low was in the 50s, 144 days when the low was in the 40s and 64 days when the low was in the 30s.

Using Muger’s data it certainly appears that temperatures in Almaden have been warming over the past 10 years. For example, in 1998-99, there were five days when temperatures reached the 100s, but last year there were 14 and this year there were 10. However, temperatures in 2004-05 didn’t reach the 100s at all.

On the cold side, this year’s temperatures only reached the 40s two days. For the previous nine years, there were no days that cold.

All of the data was taken at the Muger residence in Almaden. The rain totals and the high and low temperatures are taken daily at 4 p.m. and reported Monday through Friday to NBC11 weatherman John Farley.