At the end of June, we were considered to be in a “Severe Drought”, but the National Weather Service has increased that to “Extreme Drought”.
With nearly half of July gone, we are on track to set a record low amount of precipitation in the LC Valley. So far no rain has fallen this month at the gauge at the Lewiston Nez Perce County Regional Airport.
The National Weather Service’s U.S. Drought Monitor shows we are at the west end of an extreme drought band that goes through North Idaho and into Montana.
Historically, July precipitation is barely noticeable unless it happens all at once in a big storm. The mean amount of rain for the month is just one-quarter of an inch. 2016 was the last time we got more than that.
June wasn’t much better. With a mean amount of 1.2” of rain, we only got .08”.
In Grangeville, the mean amount for July is about 2/3rds of an inch of rain in July, but there’s been none measured so far. June recorded .91” with a mean amount of just more than 3”.
