Dalhart Weather Review
By Aaron Graves
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| Graphic by Amarillo NWS |
Dalhart’s 2014 precipitation total is up to 5.70” thanks to 0.09” of rain on July 2. We are still lagging behind the 30 year average of 8.27” we should have as of July 6. However, Dalhart has gone from being bone dry to enjoying the wettest summer we have seen over the last 4 years, according to the accompanying graphic released by the Amarillo office of the National Weather Service.
The graphic shows accumulated precipitation totals since the beginning of the year through July 6. You can see how 2014 is now a good two inches ahead of 2012, almost four inches ahead of 2013, and five inches ahead of 2011, that first, hot, painful year of the drought.
Only time will tell if the wet pattern will continue. Heavy rain forecast last week did not pan out as expected. However, rain chances for next week are looking better, along with a cool down in temperatures.
Our rainy weather at the end of June barley put a dent in the U.S. Drought Monitor issued July 1. Dallam and Hartley counties still are depicted as being in “extreme” and “exceptional” drought.
On the subject of rain, Dallam and Hartley County residents have a chance to make a significant contribution to science. Volunteers are needed to make daily rain and snow total reports. It will only cost you about $30 for a special rain gauge and only about 5 minutes of your time each day.
The program is called CoCoRaHS, an acronym for “Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network.” According to the group’s website, they are “a unique, non-profit, community-based network of volunteers of all ages.” Data collected by these volunteers is used by the National Weather Service, hydrologists, emergency managers, city utilities departments, insurance adjusters, the USDA, engineers, farmers, and ranchers, just to name a few.
Dallam County resident Lynn Harruff has been a volunteer for over a decade. He started by reporting rain totals directly to the National Weather Service, and then was directed to the CoCoRaHS program.
“It takes very little time out of my day,” Harruff said. “All I’ve got to do is walk out to the gauge at the same time every day, read it and empty it. Then I report the results using a phone app.”
Along with Harruff , there are two other CoCoRaHS volunteers in Dallam County and one in Hartley County. “I want to get more people to join,” Harruff said, who lives rain 8 miles northwest of town on South Sedan Rd. “What I get out here is not the same as what you get in town, and certainly not the same as what you get in Conlon or at the state line or down in Channing. The more reports we get, the better.”
That sentiment is echoed by Andrew Moulton, meteorologist with the Amarillo NWS. “We will use the reports for drought impact,” Moulton said. “Especially up near Dalhart, being sparsely populated, it will help with drought assessments, establishing climatology normals, and drawing up average precipitation maps.” Moulton went on to point out how the data grows in usefulness the longer a volunteer stays with the program.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, visit this website: www.cocorahs.org. The website explains all that is involved and offers training on how to take accurate rain and snow totals. It also will link you to online stores that sale the appropriate rain gauge.
High and low temps the past week
July 1: 81, 64
July 2: 77, 61
July 3: 85, 61
July 4: 91, 65
July 5: 95, 62
July 6: 97, 63
July 7: 97, 64
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