Sweet Rain

All of Fairbanks-land has received some rain the past day or so, though amounts vary greatly. Tuesday morning a solid area of rain made it into the eastern portions of the area. In the afternoon thunderstorms developed along the eastern edge of the rain shield. Overnight, another area of steadier rain developed mostly north and west of town. The result of these features is a hodge-podge of rainfall amounts.

At the upper end is the coop observation from Steese Highway Mile 42, with a whopping 2.10 inches. Angel Creek RAWS recorded 1.03 inches, and the CWOP site near Weller School, 1 Mile Chena Hot Springs Road, reported 0.95 inches. The Munson Ridge SNOTEL in the upper Chena Basin received over an inch of rain, though much of the that came late Monday night and Tuesday morning.

The hydrograph (from Alaska-PacificRFC) for the Chena River at the Wendell Street Bridge shows no rise yet (as expected) and only a moderate rise over the next few days as water from the upper Chena basin works downriver.



At the lower end, where we would have like to see a soaking rain, on the Tanana Flats to help squash the Bonnifield #1 fire, there was not much. The Blair Lakes RAWS reported 0.15 inches of rain and the Gold King RAWS, southwest of the fire, reported 0.13 inches. Better than none, but a lot more is needed. The Bonnifield #1 fire is now up to 6449 acres and will likely to continued to smoulder until the snow comes.