Year-to-Date Precipitation

Precipitation has continued to be scarce in the Fairbanks area, as the month of May brought only 0.06" at the airport; according to the NWS, this was the fifth driest May on record, and the fifth consecutive month of below-normal precipitation.  The year-to-date precipitation total is a meager 1.15", which is about half of what is normal.  However, six other years since 1950 were drier to this date; the driest four years to this date were 1997, 1998, 2010, and 1999.  Also, it is interesting that 2009 and 2011 were both (slightly) drier in May than this year; so the recent dryness is less unusual when compared to events in the past 20 years.

The chart below shows the year-to-date accumulated precipitation compared to a long-term normal.