Chilly and dry October

Significant autumn rainstorms failed to materialize for the Lake Almanor Basin in October, with less than 0.2 inch of rain recorded locally.

After making some corrections for system errors, the PG&E monitoring site at Prattville posted a revised July-June season precipitation total to date of 1.49 inches. That’s about 50 percent of the long-term average accumulation for the end of October, but it is not at all unusual for us to start with a dry autumn.

October temperatures were definitely cooler than average.

Our average morning low was nearly 6 degrees colder than the long-term figure and our afternoon average high was 3 degrees colder. In fact, only two October mornings registered above freezing at the Chester airport monitoring site.

Gardeners may have noticed that there is considerable variation in local temperatures depending on nearby vegetation and structures.

November typically continues the downward trend in temperatures and will hopefully see the onset of wet weather.

We really need some soaking rain to reduce our fire risk and refresh our trees and yards.