The combined precipitation from rain, snow and the somewhere-in-between that has come down in the town of Jackson this February is on pace to more than double the previous all-time monthly record.
Not counting the snowfall that hit the ground Sunday and Monday, there have been 5.62 inches of waterfall in town, which demolishes 1962’s 2.83-inch record.
“And we still have a couple days to go here, so we will more than double it,” MountainWeather.com meteorologist and Jackson Hole News&Guide columnist Jim Woodmencey said.
Woodmencey was almost giddy when describing the amount of moisture that winter 2016-17 has left behind.
“It’s like we have had two times the normal amount of weather in basically half a winter season,” he said.
October’s 5.38 inches of water slid into fourth place for most monthly precipitation in history — and that’s of any month, not just Octobers. But then February 2017 came along, nudging it back into fifth place, Woodmencey said. Jackson Hole, in other words, has experienced two of its five wettest months ever in a span of only five months.
“It’s the weather pattern that keeps on going,” Woodmencey said. “It’s like you wake up every day, and same thing.
“I feel like there’s been three, four breaks of more than a few days since the first of December,” he said, “and it’s exhausting.”
While the records for the snowiest winter season in the mountains have been less gaudy, all-time highs for snowfall and snow depth have been toppled in the high country as well.
Read more about the precipitation during the month in Woodmencey’s News&Guide column, “February breaks record for snow, moisture,” found on page B8 in Wednesday’s Valley section.
Contact Mike Koshmrl at 732-7067, [email protected] or @JHNGenviro.
