July has looked like her old self this year, spreading needed rain around Lincoln County, and sometimes in overly generous amounts.
Even this past Monday, rainfall blanketed all parts of the county. Flooding and erosion have been concerns several times this month. Just that day alone, the Community Environmental Monitoring Program stations reported Alamo had .11 inches, mostly in the early morning hours, Caliente had .10 inches a little after noon, with a total for the day of .17 inches and Pioche had .09 inches Monday between 1 and 3 p.m.
Pioche had a strong system move through on Sunday between 6-8 p.m. dumping a little over half-an-inch. Panaca also got some of that rain, but they do not have a reporting station.
Up through July 21, the CEMP reports Pioche has received .86 inches, Caliente 1.88 inches and Alamo 1.02 inches for a county-wide total to date of 3.76 inches, well above the normal July average of .26 inches. And as reported earlier, rains have caused considerable amounts of erosion in various places, including closing SR 318 for several hours in the early morning hours of July 8.
The National Weather Service reports the county gets about nine inches of rain per year, while the national average is 36.5 inches, and it rains here about 42 days out of the year.
The months with the highest rainfall averages for Lincoln County are September with .98 inches and October at .94.
A bit more rain is forecast for the county July 29.
