Average April precipitation throughout the Boquet River watershed was 3.5 inches. May was nearly the same, amounting to 3.46 inches, not including the half-inch that fell during the last day. (We take measurements the first thing every morning.) NOAA's records for Elizabethtown show an average precipitation of 14.68 inches from January through May. BRASS volunteers have recorded only an average of 12.94 inches so far this year.
Of course, when the near 2" of rain fell May 13-14, the river and its tributaries rose to bankfull conditions. Otherwise water levels in streams have been low reflecting the water table and drought conditions since last year. Greg Hanson with the National Weather Service wrote a drought/water resource statement on NOAA's web site indicating that despite nearly normal precipitation this year with the drought watch downgraded to normal conditions for Essex County, we are still nearly 10 inches below normal for the last 13 months. Thankfully, he says, cool temperatures in May helped reduce evaporation rates, keeping the water on the ground and bringing Lake Champlain's level up. However, several more months of surplus rainfall are needed to overcome long term deficits.
On April 20th our houses were rattled by an earthquake at 6:50 A.M. Centered 15 miles southwest of Plattsburgh, it was of 5.1 magnitude. People are still assessing damages, and some things happening a month later–like broken water system pipes in Elizabethtown–may well be late impacts for the movement and underground pressures set up by the quake.
Aside from early 90 degree weather in mid April, a plunge back to the 30's and 40's, and an earthquake, we have also witnessed a very windy spring.