I knew it was a moist year, the wettest since I’ve lived in these parts, and Tom Skilling concurs:
To date, 2011 has been a very wet year in Chicago and current high water levels in area rivers and streams attest to that. Since January 1, total precipitation (rain plus the water content of snow and sleet) as measured officially at O’Hare International Airport stands at 19.15 inches. That is 6.06 inches above the long-term normal of 13.09 inches and it ranks 2011 among the wettest four percent of all years in the January 1-May 31 period.
This year isn’t the wettest, but it’s close. Chicago’s precipitation records began in 1871 and four years in that 140-year data base delivered more precipitation, with 1975 (21.56 inches) being the wettest.
(click here to continue reading ASK TOM WHY: How much precipitation have we had and how does it compare to the normal? – Chicago Weather Center.)
And yet the Climate Deniers still maintain there is nothing unusual about the 21st century weather; droughts in Texas, tornadoes devastating everywhere, floods on the Mississippi, etc., this means nothing because Al Gore is fat, and flies around on a private jet.
