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One for Mahoning Valley weather books?
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Diane Wagner and Judy Peyatt, her 7-year-old daughter, both of Niles, walk home together in the rain after school on Robbins Avenue. With a month to go, 2011 is already the area’s second-wettest year on record.
YOUNGSTOWN
With a month left, 2011 is only a little more than 1 inch away from being the wettest year on record in the Mahoning Valley.
The 49.52 inches of precipitation to fall on the Valley as of 5 p.m. Monday is good enough for the second-wettest year.
The No. 1 year is 1911 with 50.81 inches, based on National Weather Service records that date to 1896.
“Making it to No. 1 is not out of the question considering we have a whole month to go,” said Gary Garnet, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Cleveland.
Only 1.3 inches of precipitation is needed through the end of 2011 for this to be the Valley’s wettest year.
The area averages 2.99 inches of precipitation in December, according to NWS statistics.
The Valley had 1.36 inches of rain between midnight Saturday and 5 p.m. Monday. The rain during that time moved this year from No. 4 to No. 2 on the wettest-year list.
The former No. 2 was 1956 with 48.58 inches and the ex-No. 3 was 2006 with 48.47 inches.
More rain is in today’s forecast, and dry on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, according to the weather service forecast. There is a 30 percent chance of rain Sunday.
The amount of rain this October and November are above normal, but not enough to make the top 10 wettest for either month.
But February, March, April, May and September this year all made the top-10-wettest list for those respective months.
The area’s official weather measurements are taken by the NWS at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna.
It’s not just the Valley experiencing a lot of precipitation this year.
It’s already the wettest year in Cleveland with nearly 60 inches of precipitation, about 5 inches more than the old record.
About 5 more inches in Toledo would make this year the wettest in that city, and it’s the third- wettest year for the Akron- Canton area.
“It’s been a very wet year pretty much statewide with several areas near the record, and Cleveland breaking its record,” Garnet said.