Happy New Year! (Water Year, that is)

You probably didn't know it, but October 1 is the start of a new year in the world of weather! The Water Year (or hydrologic year) runs from October 1-September 30. From the CoCoRaHS program, the Water Year "coincides with the natural cycle of winter (cool season) snow and soil moisture accumulation and recharge followed by summer (growing season) water use and soil moisture depletion. This is the time of year when many rivers and streams in the U.S. run slow and clear (baseflow) awaiting the widespread precipitation that sometimes comes during fall and winter. Soil moisture and river flow in many parts of the country undergoes an annual cycle that tracks with this water year definition."

For the last water year (October 2009 to September 2009), the Bartlett, TN CoCoRaHS station maintained at Cirrus Weather Solutions recorded 60.73" of precipitation (rain and melted snow or frozen precipitation). This is above the average annual precipitation for Memphis of 54.65" by about 6" - a wet year overall, despite the recent drought conditions.

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