Little or no rain fell on the central and southern Great Plains, much of the central Rockies, and the Far West. Looking at the western half of the Lower 48, outside the areas affected by the monsoon, much drier conditions prevailed, though there were a few small areas recording moderate to heavy rainfall. This variable rainfall pattern had a similar effect on areas of dryness and drought, with deterioration noted very close to improvement in many cases, and only a few broad swaths with a consistent pattern. In contrast, many areas across these regions recorded only a few tenths of an inch of rain or less, with tight gradients between heavy rain and lesser amounts common. Still, numerous patches of land across the Upper Midwest, the middle Mississippi Valley, the Ohio Valley, and the Gulf Coast east of Texas received over 3.5 inches of rain, with isolated totals of 6 to locally 11 inches reported in a swath from the middle Mississippi and lower Ohio Valleys northward through the Upper Midwest and western Great Lakes Region. In other areas from the Mississippi Valley eastward, heavy rain was less widespread. Most areas from southern Missouri and northeastern Arkansas through central Illinois recorded over 1.5 inches of rain, as did parts of the Tennessee and southern Ohio Valleys, the Upper Midwest and western Great Lakes Region, the Central Gulf Coast, and northern Maine. The average annual rainfall in Death Valley is less than 2.5 inches, and the 24-hour total makes August 2022 the wettest month in Death Valley since February 2010, and more than half of all calendar years bring less rain than that 24-hour total.įarther east, many areas from the Mississippi River eastward through the Piedmont and Middle Atlantic States recorded moderate to heavy precipitation. Death Valley, CA set an all-time record for 24-hour rainfall, being doused with 1.46 inches during August 5 and 6. Across the interior West, heavy monsoon rains set records in some locales, with tropical moisture streaming much farther north and west than normal (through southern Montana, the Great Basin, and parts of the Sonoran Desert). And summer thunderstorms, while often delivering greater rainfall totals, are usually of relatively short duration.Precipitation varied widely across the Lower 48 this week. Snow, whose water content is usually less than rain, tends to last longer.

Cold-season precipitation ends to be long-duration, though of light intensity. Precipitation intensity is important also. In the years from about 1970 onward, heavy precipitation totals have been occurring more frequently in the late summer and early autumn (especially August and September). It should be noted that these figures are merely averages precipitation occurrences in Chicago’s rough-and-tumble climate often vary greatly from the averages in any given year. Somewhat heavier precipitation, 0.10 inch or greater, ranges from 4.6 days in February to 7.1 days in May, and heavy precipitation, 1.00 inch or more, ranges from two tenths of a day in February to 1.0 days is August. Precipitation of 0.01 inch is very light, and is likely not to be noticeable. September averages least days per year, with 8.2, and April the most, with 11.8. It’s most frequent in the spring and least frequent, usually, in the autumn and winter. The precipitation is not spread evenly through the year, however. I am curious as to how many days we have precipitation in Chicago.Ī review of Chicago’s precipitation records for the entire period of official records, 1871 through 2016, reveals that measurable precipitation (0.01 inch or greater) falls on 125 days per year, or one day out of three. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated.

Precipitation totals chicago