Two full weeks of November ended on Friday, but based on conditions in the Washington area, it might be fair to call the 14-day period Dryvember.
That nickname, as may be guessed, refers to the absence of rain, the essential lack of downpours, drizzle or deluges experienced in the area.
Not only this month, but last as well have brought dry days, bright days, days of atmospheric brilliance. From blue skies, autumn sunshine has beamed on tree and shrub bedecked in the alluring hues of the season, the fiery reds and the gleaming golds.
Two full weeks of November ended on Friday, but based on conditions in the Washington area, it might be fair to call the 14-day period Dryvember.
That nickname, as may be guessed, refers to the absence of rain, the essential lack of downpours, drizzle or deluges experienced in the area.
Not only this month, but last as well have brought dry days, bright days, days of atmospheric brilliance. From blue skies, autumn sunshine has beamed on tree and shrub bedecked in the alluring hues of the season, the fiery reds and the gleaming golds.
But such fine days have come at a cost. They have been purchased at the prize of the missing moisture, the paucity of precipitation, that has plagued not only this month but the last one and in places, the one before that.
In the language of the U.S. Drought Monitor, which reports on moisture or its absence throughout the country, much of western Fairfax County and eastern Loudoun County find themselves in a “severe drought.” Other parts of the region have been adjudged abnormally dry.
As of late in the day, Friday did nothing to help the area escape from those designations. At Dulles International Airport, many clouds could be seen, but, according to the National Weather Service, no rain fell.
Precipitation figures, compiled for Dulles by the weather service, do seem to suggest that greater wetness might be welcome there, if only to create conditions characteristic of years past.
So far this month, Dulles has recorded 0.34 inches of rain, just a little more than a third of an inch. That might be a significant amount in certain deserts, but the normal amount at Dulles on the 14th of November is about an inch and a half.
Dulles is not only far below normal for November, it is also notably below the normal figure for the period starting on Sept. 1. On the average Dulles should have measured 9.08 inches from Sept. 1 through Friday. But the actual figure was more than five inches less than that.
Dulles has been about 60 percent below normal, receiving substantially less than half its normal allotment.
In Washington, a fifth of an inch of rain has been measured so far this month. The official figure for rainfall since Sept. 1 is about two-thirds of normal.
It was not all sunshine on Friday. Clouds often covered the sky. But through a dry afternoon and into an early evening they did not seem to carry a message of imminent moisture.
The post November is nearly half over, but without dampness or drizzle
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