MAHONING VALLEY Rain check shows September set a record for precipitation

Before this year, the wettest September was in 1996.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- In the song "September," Earth, Wind & amp; Fire sang, "Say do you remember dancing in September? Never was a cloudy day."
Apparently the legendary funk band never visited the Mahoning Valley during that time, particularly this past one.
The National Weather Service in Cleveland said 6.67 inches of precipitation fell in the Mahoning Valley last month. That is the most precipitation to fall in the area in recorded weather history, which goes back about 60 years. It is also 2.89 inches more than the Valley usually gets in a typical September.
The official Valley precipitation count is taken by the NWS at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna. If the count was held in Lisbon or other areas of Columbiana County that experienced major flooding and about $2 million in damage last month, the amount would be greater.
The former No. 1 wettest September was 1996 when 6.35 inches fell.
Here's the reason
The remnants of hurricanes that hit hard in Florida in September caused the heavy rainfall in the Valley, said Martin Thompson, a hydrometeorological technician at the NWS in Cleveland.
"It definitely was a wet month," Thompson said in an understated manner.
It rained just six days in September. The worst was Sept. 8 when 4.09 inches fell.
The average temperature during the month was 63.5 degrees, 2 degrees warmer than the typical September in the Valley.
With the September rains, the amount of precipitation falling in the Valley during the first nine months of the year is 37.12 inches. In comparison, 37.34 inches fell during the first nine months of last year, the fifth-wettest year in Valley weather history.
The average amount of precipitation to fall during the first nine months in the Valley is 29.42 inches. The average amount for the year is 37.27 inches. That means the area needs only 0.16 of an inch of precipitation to fall during the last three months to exceed the average.
Looking ahead
Precipitation amounts for the Valley are supposed to be about average -- 7.85 inches -- during the final three months of the year, Thompson said. If that occurs, this year would be the sixth wettest on record in the Valley.
"We're not expecting anything really drastic for the rest of the year," he said.
Rainfall is a straight measurement; an inch of rain equals an inch of precipitation.
Because snow is considerably less moist than rain, about 10 inches of snow is typically equal to 1 inch of precipitation.
Also, the Federal Emergency Management Agency declared federal emergencies Thursday in five counties, including Mahoning, based on the Sept. 8-9 storms. Trumbull and Columbiana counties already had that designation.
Residents in those counties who want to file claims with FEMA should call the agency's toll-free phone number at (800) 621-3362.
skolnick@vindy.com