Rainfall Totals - 2009/2010 Season

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATIONS BY ERIC FITZGERALD

The lush 2009/2010 rain season finished on June 30 true to form with .01-inches of "June Gloom" drizzle on the 29th and 30th making this the latest season with measurable precipitation ever recorded by Messenger amateur meteorologist, Eric Fitzgerald. Previous to this, the last late-season precipitation measured by Fitzgerald was .01-inches on the summer solstice, June 21, 2002. The season total [as recorded by Fitzgerald at his Fernwood weather station] was 24.34-inches – the fourth highest total in the 14 years he's been keeping records. All this wet stuff raised our 14-year average to 21.02-inches – that's more than a quarter of an inch from the previous average, 20.76-inches.

While the wet winter has helped to keep the water bills lower and provides a break from the fire season, the downside is the resulting thick cover of annuals and extra growth of underbrush – making brush/weed abatement a bigger chore. Into every life, a little rain must fall.