Cloudy, cool and very, very wet

Tom Gardner

Tuesday, March 3, 1998 | 9:17 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - The groundhog was right as far as Nevada goes, as February was unusually cloudy, unusually cool and very, very wet across the state.

"The precipitation not only was well above normal at most locations, but the number of wet days was more like Seattle or Portland than Nevada," state Climatologist John James said on Monday.

In Las Vegas, rain fell on 12 of the month's 28 days, drenching the city with 2.89 inches of rain for its wettest February in 91 years of record-keeping. The city averages 4.15 inches of rain annually and has received 3.06 inches in the first two months of 1998.

Reno received rain or snow on 18 days, for a total of 2.59 inches. Its 3.69 inches of moisture for January and February is just shy of the halfway point in the city's 7.5-inch annual average.

"Reno is over twice normal, while the Vegas total is six times the normal February amount," James said. "I'm not even going to make a guess what's going to happen in March."

Ely came close to a record with 1.67 inches of rain for its second-wettest February in half a century of record-keeping. Something fell out of the sky on 21 days last month.

Elko didn't set a record, but the city did have only three precipitation-free days last month on the way to 1.4 inches for the month. Winnemucca ended up with 1.61 inches.

In the Sierra, where the snow pack's water content was just average or a little below on Groundhog Day, it hovered around 150 percent at month's end. James said the water content in February's snowfall at Incline Village was 7.75 inches, while Alpine Meadows recorded a whopping 24.14 inches of water in 186 inches of snow.

While the month's temperatures weren't anything spectacular, James said the overcast tended to keep daytime readings on the cool side and nighttime lows fairly mild. Las Vegas, for example, had only 55 percent of its possible sunshine hours, while 81 percent is typical.