A dry November in the Almanor Basin

By Dale Knutsen

Special to Plumas News

Precipitation was disappointing in the Lake Almanor basin during November. We picked up about an inch of snowfall during two light dustings and just enough rainfall to add 2.37 inches of water content to the accumulation. As of the end of the month, our total precipitation for the July-June water year came to 3.44 inches at the Prattville monitoring site. That amounts to exactly 50 percent of the long term average accumulation at this point in the year. Not a great start, but we have several more months of our typical wet season yet to come.

November temperatures were closer to the typical range. Our average low temperature for the month was almost 5 degrees colder than the norm, while our average high was 2 degrees warmer. Extremes for the month, as measured near Chester airport, were a 10 degree low on the ninth and a 75 degree high on the first. Every morning during November yielded a low temperature below freezing, with an average figure of 21 degrees.

Early December is forecast to be dry, but with any luck we can hope for a return to more typical weather later in the month. An “average” December would bring us a couple of feet of snow on top of a little rain, sufficient to add about five inches of water content to our total.