Wichita recorded 1.33 inches of rain Wednesday and Thursday, pushing the total for October to 3.82 inches. That’s 1.37 inches above the normal October total of 2.45 inches – or about 56%.
This latest rainfall event brings the total for 2009 to 36.58 inches, which is more than 9.5 inches above normal so far.
But the 36.58 inches this year is well behind last year’s record-setting total through late October of 51.19 inches. That number was boosted by the torrential rains dropped by the remnants of Hurricane Lowell in mid-September, and 2008 went on to become the wettest year in Wichita’s history.
Quite a bit, according to a map put together by the National Weather Service. Three different areas east and southeast of Wichita recorded more than 6 inches over a 48-hour period ending on Wednesday.
Reports of more than 4 inches were widespread in and around the city, according to weather service officials.
While students, teachers and staff would claim that summer ends when the new school year begins, Labor Day weekend has traditionally been considered summer’s farewell.
If so, this was a rather soft summer for Wichita. The city hit 100 only four times this year, and not one of them was in August.
In fact, the city set one record low in late August and nearly set another. For the entire month, the average temperature was nearly four degrees below normal.
The record was set on Aug. 22, when the thermometer dropped to 53. Wichita hit 53 again on the last morning of the month.
Nearly 4 inches of rain fell in August, a full inch above average. For the year, Wichita is at 27.6 inches – 5.5 inches above normal.
The thunderstorms that moved through the region Tuesday night dumped heavy rain in isolated spots, leading to widely contrasting totals in locations not far at all from each other.
Officially, only .18 fell at the recording station next to Mid-Continent Airport in west Wichita. And rainfall totals around the city were generally less than a half-inch. But more than an inch fell 7 miles northeast of Wichita and .74 of an inch fell just north of Park City.
Heavy rain fell in eastern Butler County, and more than an inch fell southeast of Rose Hill. A reporting site one mile outside Augusta reported .75 of an inch.
Reno County, meanwhile, reported 1.2 inches about 6 miles southeast of Partridge and .79 of an inch 7 miles southeast of Pretty Prairie.
More than 2 inches fell next to Stafford and north of Dodge City.
…..the rainfall totals offer a surprise for Wichita.
Remember how thrilled everyone was with last week’s sunny, dry weather? People acted as if Wichita had returned to its native home after a spell in the United Kingdom or the Pacific Northwest.
Yet, even though Wednesday’s light rain and drizzle meant Wichita has recorded precipitation on 14 of the first 27 days of the month, the city is actually below normal for rainfall in May. This year’s total of 2.94 inches in May is nearly a half-inch below normal for the fifth month of the year.
How is that possible? Well, most of the rains in the Wichita area have been small ones, and they haven’t added up to as much as most folks may suspect.
Come to think of it, that rainfall pattern does mirror the Pacific Northwest or merry ol’ England.
And despite the dryer-than-average May, Wichita is still more than 5 inches above normal for this time of year, with a 2009 total rainfall of 15.60 inches.
The rest of the month doesn’t figure to add to the rainfall totals, forecasters say, but June could arrive with some thunderstorms.
You know it’s been a wet year when a few days in a row without rainfall seems unusual.
Today marks the fourth dry day in a row in the metropolitan area – a feat that has occurred only two other times in the city since March 20. Until this patch of calm weather arrived, it had rained on 10 of the first 15 days in May.
And 16 of the 30 days in April.
And 7 of the last 12 days of March.
That adds up to 33 of the last 57 days – a rate of nearly 60%. This is the Great Plains, not the Pacific Northwest.
It’s no wonder the city is more than 6 inches above normal – and even more than 3 inches above last year’s record-setting numbers.
Ask golfers or gardeners or landscapers what that has done to their spring. Or anyone in the area who has had drainage or sump pump problems. Or anyone who likes to spend their weekends at the lake.
Chances are you’ll get a healthy scowl in response.
The strong storms have moved east, but the Wichita metropolitan area can expect a gray, drizzly afternoon.
The hail and strong winds stayed south and east of Wichita, hitting Sumner, Butler and Cowley counties instead.
The clouds should begin to break up on Wednesday, though slight chances of rain will persist.
After the second-soggiest April in the city’s history, May hasn’t given Wichita much of a chance to dry out just yet.
Only 3 of May’s first 10 days were dry, according to National Weather Service data.
The rainfall total for May, 2.19 inches, is already more than an inch above normal for the month – and several more chances for rain are in the immediate forecast.
Wichita has recorded 14.85 inches of rain so far this year, which is 6.53 inches above normal.
Wichita wrapped up one of its wettest Aprils ever with a soggy sayonara: 6.81 inches of rain fell in the last five days of the month, hoisting the total for April to 9.94 inches.
That’s 7.37 inches above normal, and left 2009 second only to 1944 in April rainfall.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was wrapping up his third term in the White House and the Allies were preparing for the invasion of Normandy when 12.42 inches of April rain fell in Wichita 65 years ago.
Torrential rain in the Pretty Prairie area this morning – 1.75 inches in 45 minutes – has prompted the National Weather Service to issue a flood warning for southeastern Reno County.
The basin most affected by the rainfall will be the north fork of the Ninnescah River.
Expect more episodes like this over the next several days, forecasters warn.