Significant rain and snow have officially made the Winter of 2018/2019 the wettest on record for the contiguous United States.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says this winter’s average total precipitation was 2.22 inches above average. It beats the old record from 1997/1998 by just 0.02 inch.
Much of the West experienced above-average precipitation. This is in direct contrast to drought conditions that have plagued much of California for several years. Other regions like the Great Plains, the Midwest, and Appalachians saw much-above-average precipitation.
NOAA calculates the contiguous U.S. precipitation by recording the monthly values for each of the 344 climate divisions. These divisions are then aggregated together to understand weather averages in different regions.
This information goes back to 1895. Click here to learn more.
