El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-07-20
JULY KEEPS PACE
As THE WETTESl
MONTH OF YEAR
August Is Next Wettest,
With September Third;
Averages Always Same.

The rainfall so far during the month
Of July in FL Paso has measured as
inches, with II more days Of the month
remaining This precipitation is .
record one. as the total precipitation for
the entire month has averaged 2Is
inches since 1878. the year in which
official weather data began TO be COM
piled
So far in July there have been 10
days with precipitation. The heaviest
rainfall so far this month was on July
is, when 1,42 inches Of rain fell. The
next heaviest rainfall was on the third
and 18th. when the rain measured 0-78
OF an inch. and the third heaviest rain
was on the second, when 0.5s OF an inch
OF " alter fell
The data on precipitation is recorded
from midnight TO midnight Of each "a
hours by Col n d Lane observer of
the United States weather bureau here
While July holds the record for the
Wettest month in the year, with an
average Of 213 inches extending over
the period back TO and including 1878.
August is the second wettest month, its
average for the same period being l72
inches September is third wettest with
an average annual rainfall covering
the same period Of 1.45 inches. June
usually has a very much lighter fall of
rain than either Of these three months
the average for the period from 1873
10 1919 inclusive being 0.55 OF an inch.
II is a matter Of history that the
rainfall for given period never varies
IN any one section. Each seven-yesr
period, II the rainfall for the seven
years is totaled and divided by seven
VIII show the average eyarly rainfall
Ior the seven years to be within frac-
VIII show the average yearly rainfall
OF previous seven year period Each
period OF 81 years viii show that the
rainfall in a given community has
averaged exactly the same each year
FOR instance, there may have been 10
very dry years, 10 very wet years and
II in which the fail was medium. All
totaled and divided by seven will show
that the average Is the same as the
average annual precipitation in the
preceding 81 years. There is nothing,
absolutely nothing, to the talk OF
changing conditions bringing about
more rainfall Some people have pre-
dicted that the completion Of Elephant
Butte dam and the irrigation OF more
lands IN this section would cause more
rainfall here This is contrary to
history and science.
Take May OF this year, Just passed !
The rainfall was Le3 inches, while the ]
average for the month is 0.35 Of an inch 4
This unusually heavy precipitation fol- ,
lows two years in which the May rain I
1all was only a trace. then one year IN /
which II was 039 OF an inch, two more /
IN which there was but a trace. one
year in which the rainfall was but Dol 4
o ian inch and another year in which 1
the fall was but 010 OF an inch The
records have to be searched back to /
1906 10 md q single year aside from
1919 where the rainfall has been equal 4
10 the average That year it ran above
the average just lite, the total for
the month being 0.sO Of an inch.
The same applies to any month I
Unusually wet years follow unusually
dry ones and the average is virtually
the same over a period of seven years.