A dry February in the Almanor Basin

By Dale Knutsen

Lake Almanor resident and Plumas News contributor

Historically, the month of February is one of our wetter months in this region, but such was not the case this year. The west shore area of the Lake Almanor basin received only 10 measurable inches of snowfall this February, less than half the usual amount. That brought our season total to 69.5 inches by the end of the month, or 70 percent of the long-term average. Rain boosted our total precipitation during the month to 3.59 inches, still well under the norm. Our accumulated total precipitation for our July-June water year now stands at 14.97 inches or 65 percent of average.

February temperatures were chilly as expected. All of the morning lows were at or below freezing, with an average low of 20.5 degrees F. (about 2 degrees lower than the norm). Due to our generally dry conditions, there usually was a wide spread between morning low and afternoon high. Our average high temperature was 48.9 degrees, which is about 3 degrees warmer than the norm.

March has the potential to bring considerable moisture to the area, but we’ll just have to wait and see what storm tracks actually occur this year.