Caldwell County's precipitation up slightly

Rainfall in Caldwell County has been much more frequent this year than last, but the county's total amount of precipitation is not much greater than the 2007 total after the year's first four months.

According to data from the National Weather Service office in Greenville, S.C., Caldwell County received almost 11 inches of rainfall during the first four months of 2008, only about a third of an inch more than the same stretch in 2007.

However, three of the four months of posted rainfall in 2008 already are greater than the totals from last year. Only in January this year did the county not receive more rainfall than any posted month opposed to last year at the same time.

“We're running a little bit wetter than we were at this time last year,” said Neil Dixon, a meteorologist with the NWS. “February, March and April all are wetter than they were last year, and May should be, too.”

May was a very dry month in 2007, with the county getting only .82 of an inch of precipitation, well below the average total of 4.69 inches normally received. The county had received just a trace of precipitation the first week of May, but rainfall Thursday night from heavy thunderstorms that rolled through the county should help boost that total, and Dixon said there are a number of systems in the next week that are expected to bring more rainfall to the area.

“The chance of rainfall the next week appears to be pretty good,” he said. “The chances of rainfall appear frequently in the forecast.”

The county's precipitation total for the first four months may seem low given the number of rain events experienced. But Dixon said there just have been more occurrences of rainfall. Rather than being torrential rains that bring multiple inches, they have just been slow, soaking rains that remain in the ground and add short-term relief.

“We've had more occurrences of rain during the late winter and early spring,” Dixon said. “But no one event has stood out to produce significant inches at one time.”

Even with rainfall on eight consecutive Saturdays through March and April, the amount of precipitation has not risen dramatically.

While that rainfall certainly has been beneficial, Dixon said more is needed to help the drought situation here and across the state. Caldwell remains under extreme drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

“Certainly we've seen light rain events that help keep soil moistened and help with our vegetation,” Dixon said. “It's also helped with the flow rates in rivers and streams and even raised the lake levels some. But we still need a lot more rain. We need frequent measurable rainfall. If we get that half to 1 inch of rain more often, that probably will help us climb out of the drought conditions we've been seeing.”

Dixon said the NWS Climate Prediction Center's three-month outlook for May, June and July calls for normal conditions as far as precipitation and temperatures are concerned. If that holds true, the county should be in much better shape through the summer months than last year when the drought really took its toll.

On average, the county should get more than 11.5 inches of rainfall during those months but received less than 3.5 last year.

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