NCDC: Climate of 2002 - May - West Region Drought

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Climate of 2002 - May
West Region (CA-NV) Drought

National Climatic Data Center, 17 June 2002

The 2001-2002 wet season started out wet for the West region. The weather turned drier than normal in January, with May 2002 marking the fifth consecutive month with below-normal precipitation regionwide (see top graphic below right). January-May 2002 ranked as the seventh driest January-May in the 108-year record (see bottom graphic below right).

The Southwest and southern California are ripe for the riskiest fire season ever, said Edy Williams-Rhodes, fire management director for the Forest Service's southwestern region (NBC News).

Precipitation Ranks for the
West Region, 2001-2002
Period	Rank
May	27^th driest
Apr-May	18^th driest
Mar-May	13^th driest
Feb-May	8^th driest
Jan-May	7^th driest
Dec-May	15^th driest
Nov-May	28^th driest
Oct-May	24^th driest
Sep-May	23^rd driest
Aug-May	21^st driest
Jul-May	24^th driest
Jun-May	20^th driest

Click here for graphic showing West region precipitation departures, January 1998 - present

larger image

Click here for graphic showing West region precipitation, January-May 1895-2002

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NCDC / Clim. Monitoring / Climate-2002 / May / U.S. Regional Drought / Search / Help

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