Midwest Snow Drought Continues to Affect Watertable

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It seems amazing to me how easily people have forgotten that practically the entire nation was steeped in a terrible drought this summer. The Midwest had it really bad. Only a few heavy but fleeting storms pummeled and I mean beat down on the area leaving destruction but little water in it’s wake. Here we are at the beginning of winter and though there are no scorching temperatures to remind us of how dry it is the lack of snow is scary. Now don’t get me wrong – I like that the roads are clear but the lack of white on the ground has me concerned. This Midwest snow drought really has me concerned about our crops, yards and the availability of fresh water next year.

City	Avg Annual Precip	Avg Annual Snow	Avg # days of Precip	Avg # thunderstorm days	Avg # hail days	Avg # severe thunderstorm watches per year	Avg # tornado watches per year	# of tornadoes reported in county, 1960-2010
Akron	38.47	47.1	155	38	2	1	11	11
Cleveland	38.71	58.6	156	34	1	1	10	11
Columbus	38.52	28.1	137	40	2	3	15	24
Dayton	39.58	27.5	132	38	1	4	13	8
Mansfield	43.24	43.6	143	35	1	2	12	26
Toledo	33.21	37.1	136	37	1	3	12	7
Youngstown	38.02	56.8	160	33	1	1	11	12
Ohio Annual Precipitation Average – 39.16″, 28th wettest in the U.S. Ohio Tornado Average – 14.7 per year – 21st most in the U.S. Date with highest number of reported Tornadoes in Ohio from 1950-2011, July 12th – 36 tornadoes Ohio Annual Lightning Density – 11.2 flashes per square mile – 16th highest in U.S.

Source: http://coolweather.net/staterainfall/ohio.htm

I started this post on January 10, 2013. Here it is the 27th and we still have very little to show for rainfall or snowfall. We are slated to receive freezing rain overnight. This is truly awful for travel but our hope is that there is enough water that falls to increase the level of our ground water and thus our wells. So many friends, family and neighbors having their wells dry out. Some were able to get new wells drilled and still others had back up water from ponds.

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