Year's worth of rain in a month

Carson Valley received nearly a year's worth of moisture in December, according to Centerville weather watcher Julian Larrouy.

"This is the most rain I've every recorded," said Larrouy, who is a Carson River watermaster. "We received almost a year's annual supply of rainfall in the month of December. It's amazing."

Larrouy recorded 4.35 inches of rain during the 24-hour period Saturday. When snow finally started to fall on Monday, Larrouy said it was very wet.

According to Minden weather watcher Stan Kapler, the New Year's storm dropped 3.55 inches of rain in a 24-hour period and 5.5 inches of snow on Monday.

Kapler said his records indicate that 10.92 inches of moisture has fallen in the Valley since July 1, which is more than the total for the entire previous year which was 9.85 inches.

Sheridan weather watcher George Uebele reported receiving 3.6 inches of rain moisture on Saturday. In all, Uebele reported he received 9.51 inches of moisture and 4 inches of snow during the week.

The storm was punctuated with gusty winds, which included a peak gust of 75 mph in Sheridan on Friday and a 64-mph gust on New Year's Day.

According to data kept by the National Weather Service, similar rainfall totals have occurred in the years of major floods, including 7.67 inches for the month of December in 1955 and 4.61 inches in 1997.

Carson Valley typically gets about 9 inches of precipitation during the year, with most of that occurring during December, January and February.