| Climate of 2002 - October National Precipitation National Climatic Data Center, 14 November 2002 |
Use these links to access detailed analyses of Global and U.S. data.
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| Climate of 2002 - October National Precipitation National Climatic Data Center, 14 November 2002 |
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The graph to the left is a time series depicting precipitation averaged across the contiguous U.S. Based upon preliminary precipitation data, October 2002 was much wetter than average, ranking 7th wettest - the most anomalously wet month since January 1999. There has been no significant trend in mean national October precipitation over the last century. |
| There was considerable regional variability in precipitation across the country. Nine states in the eastern half of the country (Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana, Kansas, Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey) received much above average rainfall in October, while four states (California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho) received much below average rainfall this month. Louisiana, Texas and Delaware were second wettest on record for the month of October. Substantial drought alleviation has occurred in many eastern states and though states such as Colorado also received above average precipitation this month, it will still take many months of above average or near average rainfall to alleviate the long-term drought in that state and others in the Southwest and West. Some of the above-average rainfall in the eastern half of the country was a result of Hurricane Lili as it moved inland off the Gulf of Mexico on the 3rd. More details on October hurricanes and tropical storms can be found on the hurricane season page. |  larger image |
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In Corpus Christi, Texas, on October 24th, a major storm which spawned several tornadoes led to the death of at least one person and injuries to over a dozen others. One tornado touched down in Del Mar college campus in the town and the path stretched a further two to three miles west and north of the campus. This followed on the heels of severe storms the previous day and Texas was hit with further storms later in the month mostly in the Houston area. These latter storms also produced at least one tornado and dumped up to 9 inches of rain in parts of the Houston Metro region. |
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Earlier in the month, on October 3rd, Hurricane Lili came ashore in western Louisiana bringing additional rain to areas already affected by Tropical Storm Isidore in September. More rainfall later in October led to a rank of second wettest October on record for Louisiana and Texas. Further details on flooding and rainfall in the Southeast and parts of the Gulf Coast are given on the Atlantic hurricane page, as they relate to landfalling tropical storms in October. As the North American snow season got underway in October, some precipitation fell as snow, especially in the Northern Great Plains and the upper Midwest. More details of snowfall in October can be found on the snow season page
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The graph to the left is a time series depicting precipitation averaged across the primary hard red winter wheat belt. The growing season runs from October to February for the hard red winter wheat and preliminary data indicate that precipitation was much above average for the first month of the growing season in 2002. |
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The map to the right, based on more than 500 airport stations, shows October 2002 total precipitation as a percent of the 1971-2000 station normals. Above normal precipitation generally occurred in the South through the Mississippi Valley, the Tennessee/Ohio Valley regions, and much of the east coast with more than 190% of normal precipitation falling in some areas. A record wet month was recorded at several stations in Louisiana for example. A monthly total of 21.44 inches at Lake Charles, LA, broke the old record set in 1970 by 4.16 inches. Lafayette, LA also received 2.62 inches more than the previous old record, totalling 18.27 inches for October 2002.
Dryness extended across most of the West and Northwest where as little as 25% of normal precipitation was recorded. The northern Great Plains were also dry this month, with less precipitation than normal also occurring in the lower peninsula of Michigan and Florida. At Miami International Airport, a new monthly minimum rainfall record was set for October at 0.71 inches, breaking the previous record of 1.12 inches, set in 1925. More city and state extremes for the month can be found at NCDC's Extremes Page. |
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The graph to the left is a time series depicting precipitation averaged across the contiguous U.S. Based upon preliminary precipitation data, August-October 2002 was wetter than average, ranking 11th wettest in the last 108 years. This contrasts sharply with October of 2000 and 1999 and belies considerable regional variability as can be seen from the maps below. |
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| Much below average precipitation, over August-October, occurred in 5 western states (CA, NV, ID, OR, and WA) in 2002. Four other states (AZ, WY, NH, and ME) also received siginificantly below average precipitation. Six states received much above average rainfall with Mississippi having a record wet three months. Some of the rainfall over the three month period came in September from Tropical Storm Isidore and is discussed further on the Atlantic hurricane season web-page. |
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larger imageThe graph to the left is a time series depicting precipitation averaged across the contiguous U.S. Based upon preliminary precipitation data, January-October 2002 was drier than average, ranking 28th driest in the last 108 such periods. The last 3 January-October periods have averaged below the long term mean precipitation.
The long term dryness becomes more apparent when looking at an average of the last 10 months. Record dryness occurred in 3 states (CO, CA and AZ) from January to October. The pattern of state-averaged year-to-date precipitation can be seen in the map to the right. Six other states ranked in the top ten driest such periods. More information on drought analysis for these states and others can be found on NCDC's Drought Pages. Two states (MN and WI) received much above average rainfall averaged over the last 10 months, with a third wettest January-October occurring in Wisconsin.
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| For all climate questions other than questions concerning this report, please contact the National Climatic Data Center's Climate Services Division: |
Climate Services Division
NOAA/National Climatic Data Center
151 Patton Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801-5001
fax: 828-271-4876
phone: 828-271-4800
email: questions@ncdc.noaa.gov
| For further information on the historical climate perspective presented in this report, contact: |
Jay Lawrimore
NOAA/National Climatic Data Center
151 Patton Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801-5001
fax: 828-271-4328
email: Jay.Lawrimore@noaa.gov
http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2002/oct/natprecip.html 
