By The Chronicle, 12/01/98
Compensating for drought-like conditions from July through September in the Lewis County area, Mother Nature poured on us in November.
The 12.39 inches recorded at the Centralia Fire Department made it the fourth-wettest November on record, since record keeping there began in 1924. (Editor's note: In Oakville, a mile or so above the confluence of the Black and Chehalis rivers the electronically measured rainfall for November 1998 was 15.35 inches.)
The record for November is 14.06 inches in 1932. In 1995, 12.84 inches fell, swelling the Chehalis River to well over flood stage, as did this November's rainfall. The third-wettest November was in 1934, with 12.73 inches.
The only other November with more than a foot of rain was in 1983, with 12.21 inches. The monthly average is 6.27 inches, by comparison.
November's deluges brought the total so far for this year to 44.54 inches, already more than the average for all year and more than 8 inches above the average through November.
The last 10 days of the month were particularly wet with 8.8 inches from Nov. 20 to Nov. 30. The wettest day was on Nov. 25 with 2.68 inches of rain, a record for that date. The previous record was 2.25 inches in 1962. The 24-hour record for the month is 3.96 inches on Nov. 20, 1990.
December is starting off wet. It is normally the rainiest month of the year in the Twin Cities, averaging 7.36 inches.
Steady rainfall today and tonight is forecast to taper off to showers the next several days with perhaps the coolest weather of the fall in the offing.