It was a rainy weekend, with Ophelia dropping 3.16" of rain on my QTH since late Friday evening. Although it wasn't a constant rainfall, it felt like it was because every time I had to leave the house, it was coming down. And when it rains like this, you tend to think that "Gee, this has been a real rainy year!"
That's the beauty of having a personal weather station and having a site like WeatherUnderground, where you can go to the almanac, and go back and see past days, weeks, months and years.
This year, until now, we've received 35.67 inches of rain. September has been the rainiest, with 7.66 inches of rain so far, with about 5 days to go. January, July and August each had over 5 inches of rain. May was our driest month with only 1/2 inch of rain for the entire month.
How does 2023 stack up against previous years?
2022 had a total of 51.51 inches of rain with 36.28 inches of that falling through September/
2021 had a total of 56.72 inches of rain with 46.74 inches of that falling through September. That month saw 12.24 inches of rain alone, with some 9+ inches of that coming from Hurricane Ida alone. If we discount that anomaly - then only about 37.74 inches of rain fell through September.
When I look at the numbers, 2023 hasn't been really much more rainy than the past couple of years. I guess it just seems that way when you get several days of rain in a row.
I have an Ambient 2902 weather station
Marianne gifted me with this for Christmas a few years ago. I picked it out, so she would know which one to order. I remember at the time several folks warning me not to get anything except an RF Davis or a Peet Brothers unit or I'd be sorry. As it turns out, I'm not sorry. The Ambient has been working great for about 4 or 5 years now, It's survived a few hurricanes and many Nor'Easters and whatever snow and ice that New Jersey winters have thrown at it. As a registered SkyWarn weather spotter, it's nice to be able to report exact measurements of rainfall and wind velocities and not approximations.
YMMV, bit I'd be leery of anyone who complains that Ambient weather stations are junk. BTW, the Ambient app is great and works well. If you go to the very bottom of the blog, you'll see a window that summarizes some of what's available on the app.
Being forced to stay indoors had its advantages. Yesterday, I was able to print out the Skeeter Hunt certificates for the Top 5 finishers for 2021, 2022, and 2023. Those will go in the mail this week. I know - I'm WAY behind, but I'm getting there, slowly. The last of the .pdf certificates for 2023 were finished and e-mailed last week. Next will come the .pdf certificates for 2021 and the 2022. Once I get those out, I will commence working on three years worth of soapbox comments to be published to the website.
Whew! But I do have to admit, I love it! I'm just sorry and apologize for getting so far behind.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
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