Wet, cool April doesn’t ease drought

Sandra Chereb

Wednesday, May 2, 2001 | 11:31 a.m.

RENO -- A wet, cool April across the northern two-thirds of Nevada did little to ease the drought-like conditions that exist around much of the state, weather experts said Tuesday.

And with the most promising water-producing months behind and the dry summer ahead, there is little chance one of the driest seasons on record will improve this year.

"If you haven't got it by the first of May, you probably won't get it," said state Climatologist John James.

Gary Barbato, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Reno, agreed.

The Sierra Nevada typically receives the bulk of its moisture in December, January and February.

"If you miss those three months, you basically miss most of the year, Barbato said, adding that last month's wet spells did little more than maintain the status quo.

"We're still dry. It would have been impossible, really, to have made it up," he said.

Reno received 0.66 of an inch of precipitation in April, or 174 percent of average, Barbato said.

But for the water year that began Oct. 1, Reno's only racked up 1.88 inches, or 35 percent of normal.

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