Soggy history being made
Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
Newcastle is on track to have one of the wettest years in recorded history, according to Melissa Smith, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Rapid City.
“So far, in August, Newcastle has received 5.49 inches of rain. I can tell you, that is a lot,” Smith said. “It definitely blows away the previous record that was set in 1942 at 3.04 inches.”
Those figures are just for the first 12 days in August, Smith said. The record precipitation for the entire month of August before 2019 was set in 1996 when Newcastle received 4.12 inches of rain, she said.
“We are already 1.5 inches above the wettest August ever, and we aren’t even halfway done yet,” Smith said.
Year-to-date, so far in 2019, Newcastle has had 15.7 inches of precipitation, a “pretty good amount for this area,” Smith said. But, that only puts 2019 as the 40th-wettest year in Newcastle history.
According to Susan Sanders, Warning Coordination Meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Rapid City, “normal” precipitation through August 12 is 11.71 inches with the most recorded to date occurring in 2018 at 20.47 inches.
Sanders added that for 2019 alone, precipitation is ranked 14th in recorded history.
“It’s not crazy high, but we still have five months to go,” Smith said.
For a two-year period, 2018-19 is currently sitting as the seventh-wettest in Newcastle history, with 40.4 inches of precipitation. The wettest two years recorded in the area were in 1996-97 with 44.79 inches of precipitation.
Newcastle still has plenty of time to accumulate the 4.39 inches of precipitation to break that two-year record, Smith said.
Smith does not foresee drought conditions anytime soon for Newcastle.
“Grasses will dry out quickly. They get wet quick, and they dry out fast. With the cooler weather coming, we will see some grasses eventually drying out, but right now it is not looking like there will be any drought impact in this calendar year for the area,” Smith said. “Not anytime soon.”
Sanders noted that outlooks show near to below normal temperatures and above normal precipitation through August, lower the potential of drought impact in the area.