2012 was one among driest

GRAVETTE — Mother Nature tried to make up for lost time the last day of 2012 when she delivered almost three-quarters of an inch of rain on Westside Eagle Observer territory.

The added moisture helped raise the level of water in farm ponds a bit and muddied cars as they splashed through puddles on dirt roads. But it wasn’t enough.

Last year - 2012 - goes into the record books as one of the driest in the region during the past 80 years. Only 33.17 inches of moisture was recorded during the entire twelve months, adeficit of almost a foot - 11.7 inches.

It wasn’t the record, however. That enviable title goes to a Depression Days year, 1936, when only 23.94 inches were recorded at the NOAA weather reporting station in Gravette. That was almost 21 inches below the 44.83 inch average for the station.

Depression Days, the early and mid-thirties, are considered one of the driest weather cycles in the area, and records dating to 1926 confirm this. However, only 1936, as noted, and 1934 were real drought years. In 1934 total precipitation was 32.14 inches, just an inch below that which was recorded locally last year.

The last extremely dry year in Benton County occurred in 1980 when total moisture amounted to only 28.04 inches. During the past 32 years, since 1980, more than half could be considered above average in moisture. In fact, the area was drenched with 71.28 inches in 2008, 64.30 inches in 1990 and 60.27 inches in 1993. Even 2011 had excessive rainfall with 55.08 inches recorded.

The early and mid-1950s might be considered the longest unbroken dry cycle locally, beginning in 1952 when five consecutive years showed a moisture deficiency: 32.57 inches in 1952, 30.57 inches in 1953, 30.24 inches in 1954, 33.58 inches in 1955 and 40.79 inches in 1957 before a deluge of more than 11inches in May of 1958 lifted that year’s total above the so-called drought stage with 49.00 inches.

According to national NOAA predictions, this year - 2013 - is expected to see a continuation of the drought cycle in much of the nation, including the northwest Arkansas area.

The above information was compiled from records kept by local NOAA observers A.F. Stevens, Max Bishop, Julius Schmidt, Elson Schmidt, Glenn Justice and Dodie Evans from 1930 to date.