Warm and dry October in the Almanor Basin

By Dale Knutsen

Special to Plumas New

The hoped-for October rains didn’t materialize this year in the Lake Almanor basin, leading to a continued dry start to our annual July-June “water year.”  Earlier summer thundershowers were pretty light as well.  As a result our accumulated season moisture now stands at about 35 percent of the long-term average for this point in the year.

October temperatures were warmer than average overall, but with an odd twist.  While our average afternoon high temperature was nearly 9 degrees warmer than the norm, our average morning low was just over 2 degrees cooler than the long-term trend.  We had lows at or below freezing on 21 mornings, but things warmed up fairly rapidly during the day. Our very dry air during the month tended to accentuate the temperature swing from morning low to afternoon high; the average spread was nearly 46 degrees.