Few other Ohioans
can appreciate the vagaries of wet or dry conditions more than can
the state’s hunters and anglers.
And though nearly
all of Ohio was stressed by too much – in many case, way too much –
precipitation in September, the state still saw erratic rainfall that
resulted in localized flooding in some areas.
September’s
wetness is easier to quantify in large measure because the Ohio
Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Geological Survey
conducts a monthly wrap-up with what it calls a “water inventory
report.”
The agency’s
September report says that this past September was the second-wettest
for the month for Ohio in 136 years, averaging 6.52 inches – or
3.35 inches above normal.
In fact, eight of
the state’s 10 climatic regions – the Geological Survey segments
Ohio into 10 climatic zones, or regions – ranked in the top five
wettest Septembers on record, the agency says.
Again, however, not
all areas experienced an equal amount of bonus rainfall. Scioto
County’s Lucasville saw 10 inches of rainfall in September while
Williams County’s Edon saw only 0.85 inches of rainfall.
How all of this
translated into stream flow - which plagued anglers in more than a
few locations during September - also is documented in the Geological
Survey Division’s September water inventory report. In Northeast
Ohio, the Grand River at Painesville saw its discharge rate (as
measured in cubic feet per second) surge to 745 percent of normal.
Meanwhile, the
Little Beaver Creek as measured at East Liverpool was 995 cubic feet
per second.
Neither of these two
streams held a candle to the Stillwater River at Pleasant Hill,
however. Here, the discharge rate was an astounding 1,956 percent of
normal.
And though Lake
Erie’s water level made its seasonal September decline the lake’s
that month was still 0.23 feet above where it was in September 2017.
Yet October appears
to have demonstrated an extraordinarily fickle nature when it came to
precipitation. Though the Geological Survey Division’s
10-climatic-region-based monthly water inventory report for October
won’t be available for several weeks, data from the National
Weather Service does shows some huge swings in precipitation amounts
for Ohio.
Such swings impacted
anglers in Northeast Ohio who saw their steelhead streams and late
season Lake Erie walleye fishing ventures both hampered. Meanwhile,
some deer hunters in southwest Ohio reported very dry woodland
conditions.
National Weather
Service statistics support both views. In Cleveland for October, 3.78
inches of rain fell, which was 0.71 inches above average for the
month, though several communities further to the east saw more rain,
such as Mentor and Thompson Township.
Further south and
west, Mansfield saw 4.53 inches of rain in October, or 1.59 inches
above the monthly average for the city. At the same time, Youngstown
saw 3.77 inches of rainfall, or 1.59 inches above normal.
From there, several
areas of the state experienced deficits, subtracting from their
September abundance.
For example, Toledo
during October saw 1.94 inches of rain. That measurement was 0.66
inches below average. Experiencing even greater monthly deficits in
October were both Dayton and Cincinnati. Dayton saw 1.53 inches of
rain during October, or 1.40 inches below the monthly average while
Cincinnati encountering 1.67 inches of rainfall, or 1.63 inches below
its average.
Only Columbus
appears to have closed in on its October average. Based on National
Weather Service data, the city saw 2.60 inches of rain, which was a
statistically insignificant 0.01 inches below average.
As for the calendar
year, if your weekend fishing trips seemed washed out more often than
not, that’s because through September 2018’s rainfall stood at
39.90 inches, which is 9.49 inches above average. These excessive
rainfalls ranged anywhere from 15.73 inches above average in the
state’s southeast region to 3 inches above normal for the northwest
region.
JFrischk@Ameritech.net
No comments:
Post a Comment