Dear Editor:
The 2002-2003 rainy season officially ended June 30. According
to the official city gauge we had 17.84 inches.
Dear Editor:
The 2002-2003 rainy season officially ended June 30. According to the official city gauge we had 17.84 inches. According to my two gauges we had 22.92 inches, which is two and a half inches above our seasonal normal of 20.50 inches. Seasonal normal is measured by totaling all the rainfall for the past 30 years and dividing that by 30 to get an average.
Interesting to note is that in the past 30-year period, in 1975-76 we had only 6.58 inches, which is the driest season since records were first kept in Gilroy in 1876. By the same token, we had our wettest season in that same time frame, 43.18 inches in 1982-83.
What saved us this season was December and April. In December we had 9.25 inches, second wettest on record, followed by almost record lows for January, February and March. But then came with 3.41 inches, the wettest on record, followed by a wet May.
As noted I show five inches more rainfall than does the city. A couple of inches would be acceptable but five inches, no. The city gauge is at the fire station on Chestnut Street, which is a dryer area of town. I have long advocated that it should be moved to the fire station on Wren Ave.
John W. Scherrer, Gilroy
Submitted Monday, July 14
