It didn’t just rain, it poured.
With 45 per cent more precipitation than normal, 2012 turned out to be the wettest year on record.
A total of 1,089.6 mm of “a combined rain and melted water equivalent of snow,” drenched the region in 2012 according to statistics and report released by the Southeast Fire Centre office in Castlegar.
It was more of the same in December as residents of Greater Trail may recall pulling out galoshes and popping up umbrellas at the beginning of the month.
Almost 85 per cent of the total rainfall fell within the first four days, which included a new daily high temperature of 10 C on Dec. 1. According to the report, a series of Pacific frontal systems embedded in southwesterly flows to produce the heavier than expected precipitation. As the Christmas countdown began, hopes of a white holiday were soon met, as cooler temperatures in the third week of December, delivered most of the snow for the month.
Ski resorts and snowball-makers rejoiced on Dec. 19, when 34 cm of the white stuff fell – breaking the record for the most snow that has ever been recorded in one day in December. A total of 95.8 cm of snow fell at the office’s recording station, which topped the average monthly total of 64.6 cm.
Global warming theorists have some additional supportive evidence, as 2012 saw a slightly milder average annual temperature of 8.9 degrees, up from the usual annual average of 8.4 degrees.
January will continue the current trend with more precipitation is in the forecast for next week.