What Month Does The Rainfall Season Start For Your Area?

[ELDoradoWx]

I am trying to find out which month starts off the official rainfall season for as many U.S. locations I can find. If you know what your local NWS uses or even what your local TV/Radio stations use, I would love to hear from you.

Awhile back I wrote a little php script that outputs the normal rainfall to date, and percent of normal rainfall to date for my own area only. It also outputs daily extreme temperature records with their year of occurrence. To release it on my site, I think it would be REALLY helpful to have as many official U.S. rainfall seasons as possible.

My area uses July 1st through June 30th which I don't think is very common for other areas of the country, but I just don't know.

[d_l]

Danny, The Desert Research Institute (DRI) uses an Oct 1 water year to track snowpack and accumulated precipitation. Snotel data

I believe the Reno NWS uses both Jan1 and Oct 1 or at least they generally quote the accumulated water since those dates in their daily reports.  I think that they also refer to the Oct 1 start as the water year.

[xykotik]

The rainy season in western Washington State starts October 1 and ends September 30.  The precip year runs the same dates.

The report pages on CoCoRaHS let you search reports down to the county level.  Maybe run a one-year report for places in which you are interested and look for the wet days?

[Dr Obbins]

In KY I don't know of any official rainfall season. The TV station reset the rainfall data every Jan 1st. It rains pretty much year round except for a few weeks in August. Of course spring rainfall is heavier. Here is the local data since 2005:
http://www.cavecountryweather.com/wxrainsummary.php

[racenet]

We use the calendar year to report precipitation here in the north east. So, Jan 1st - Dec 31st


Bob

[Harryca]

Our rain season is the same as yours, from July 1st to June 30th.  I believe they set it up that way because we get most of our rain during the winter months.

[Ugly Duckling]

This is completely off the subject but your location El Dorado sounds like it belongs in Texas.  How did a California city get a name like that, do you know?

Also even more off the subject my grandpa left me a 1981 El Dorado he had since new but I believe it's one word Cadillac Eldorado, two words when including it's first name, Cadillac. It's still in excellent condition. How can I make this part of the weather conversation? How about this? With it's front wheel drive it does very good in snow. The car spent all of it's life in California until I brought it to Nebraska At times it gets a little home sick.

Hay why did you ask about rain being in California? You never noticed California is always sunny? Think there's even a song that confirms that.

That's all I have. Sorry I didn't have anything useful to say.

Many Happy Weather Changes,

Marci Anna



[neondesert]

I believe the Reno NWS uses both Jan1 and Oct 1 or at least they generally quote the accumulated water since those dates in their daily reports.  I think that they also refer to the Oct 1 start as the water year.

The Las Vegas NWS does the same as well in the daily climate reports. Reporting totals from Jan 1st and Oct 1st. 
Typically, precipitation totals are referred to from January 1st in public reporting.

[Farmtalk]

I am 95% sure that Charleston, WV's is Jan 1st-Dec 31st.

Rainfall is low in the winter months due to fluffy snow, and the heaviest rain falls in the months of April, May, June, and September as of the last 5 years.

[wxtech]

There is no rainy season here.  Our monthly average rainfall is almost 4 inches per month evenly divided.  So, our rain season begins 1 January.
From Lexington, Georgia NWS station LXTG1 records 1952-2009: JAN 4.41", FEB 4.32", MAR 5.11", APR 3.53", MAY 3.73", JUN 3.83" , JUL 4.05", AUG 3.96", SEP 3.57", OCT 3.03", NOV 3.28", DEC 3.69", ANNUAL AVERAGE 46.51"
My rainfall page is always behind but here it is:http://www.lexingtonwx.com/rainreport.htm

[jgillett]

...Tucson, AZ (but not Phoenix, AZ) defines the 'start' of its' "Monsoon Season" as the first-of-three consecutive days having an average dew point temperature of 54ºF or higher, which typically coincides with the 4th of July.

The old, outdated method, as defined by the NWS.

...although the NWS formally switched to a "fixed" calendar of 15-July through 30-September as being the 'official' Monsoon SEASON, all the TV weather spouters continue to use the >53ºF criteria.

Actually, the correct start date is 15 June, not July. Also, at least here in Phoenix, the forecasters I watch do not use the old method of the monsoon start. While they may refer to it and describe it as the old method if those criteria happen to be met, they do not use it as the definitive start of the monsoon (not monsoon season - no such thing).

NOT trying to start a battle - just polite corrections.

[neondesert]

not monsoon season - no such thing

Very true John, in fact the word monsoon is derived from the Arabic word "mausim" which means "season" or "wind-shift".

I guess saying "monsoon season" is one of those phrases that we've all become used to, even if it isn't correct.
Kind of like a "hot water heater" (should be "cold water heater")...Think about it, if the water is already hot it doesn't need to be heated.   

[DaculaWeather]

Jan to Dec http://www.daculaweather.com/rainfallsummary_new.php

[Cienega32]

Actually, the correct start date is 15 June, not July. Also, at least here in Phoenix, the forecasters I watch do not use the old method of the monsoon start. While they may refer to it and describe it as the old method if those criteria happen to be met, they do not use it as the definitive start of the monsoon (not monsoon season - no such thing).

"Monsoon Season" = basic redundancy. Like Summer Season when referring to Summer.

From what I've read somewhere, a lot of the decision to apply a date range to it was based on safety concerns. A dynamic start and end date gave too much of a false sense of security to people who were "shocked" to be caught in flash floods, etc. prior to any "old method" criteria being met. The feeling that giving it an "early start" would reduce any incidents gave it June 15th.

IMHO, many, if not all of them, would've been "shocked" to be caught in one in mid-season.

[jgillett]

I guess saying "monsoon season" is one of those phrases that we've all become used to, even if it isn't correct.
Kind of like a "hot water heater" (should be "cold water heater")...Think about it, if the water is already hot it doesn't need to be heated.   

Ha! Excellent, Larry! Never even thought about that one.

[benjamin444]

Rainfall over the southern parts of Tamilnadu in this season is an unusual phenomenon as Tamil nadu normally gets the rainfall during the North-east monsoon season which occurs from october to December.
The reason may be due to a low pressure system which formed and remained for some days(sometimes such a low pressure area or upper air circulation forms over the area in this period)over the southern tip of the Peninsular India.

[hoop]

April