Big Horn Basin spring ending on a wet note

Posted 6/20/19

If you’re tired of the wet, gloomy nature of spring, you probably won’t like the forecast for the official start of summer. Rain is once again forecasted for every day through the middle …

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Big Horn Basin spring ending on a wet note

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If you’re tired of the wet, gloomy nature of spring, you probably won’t like the forecast for the official start of summer. Rain is once again forecasted for every day through the middle of next week.

But look for the silver lining in those clouds: Lawns in Powell have rarely looked this good and the area wildflowers are beginning to bloom in brilliant colors.

May was exceptionally wet in Powell. The city received 2.79 inches of rain — 1.39 inches above normal. That followed a dry April when Powell only registered 0.1 of an inch of precipitation, according to the National Weather Service in Riverton.

Meteorologist Trevor LaVoie said the Powell area’s precipitation for 2019 is 170 percent above normal. But Powell is far from the wettest spot in the Basin this spring. Worland registered 5 inches of rain in May, more than 3 inches above normal. June data is still being collected by the Weather Service.

Rainfall amounts for Powell are collected every 24 hours by University of Wyoming Research and Extension office associate, Samantha Fulton.

“We haven’t really got a break from May to June,” she said. “It looks like we’re going to be a little soggy for a while.”

Fulton has recorded 1.14 inches of rain so far this month at the station north of Powell, but it was on the edge of the storm that downtown Powell received on Friday.

“Most of town was hit harder than we were,” she said.

According to Fulton’s records, Powell received 1.97 inches of rain last June. In 2017 precipitation was closer to normal in June with 0.92 inches.

Whether or not the weather reflects it, summer officially begins on Friday.

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