Water Department
The Owens Valley Monitor 1999-2000
Owens Valley Precipitation Sally Manning, Vegetation Scientist
Precipitation data have been collected at seven ICWD rain gauges since 1993. Precipitation
totals for ICWD rain gauges appear in Table 1. For the water year beginning October 1,
1998, and ending September 30, 1999, precipitation measured at the gauges averaged 2
inches. This was the lowest average during the period of ICWD record. During the
pre-growing season period, October 1 through April 15, an average of 1.48 inches was
measured. In contrast, the previous (1997-98) water year exhibited the highest valley
floor precipitation on ICWD record, 7.85 inches, and 5.81 inches fell prior to the growing
season.
| Rain Gauge | Precipitation (inches) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | |
| RG-1, east of Fish Slough | 5.94 | 3.40 | 7.60 | 4.51 | 4.66 | 6.09 | 1.82 |
| RG-2, Laws Museum | 6.29 | 3.62 | 7.80 | 4.55 | 4.91 | 7.34 | 2.50 |
| RG-3, southeast of Bishop | 7.21 | 4.34 | 8.87 | 4.29 | 6.85 | 9.98 | 2.39 |
| RG-4, south of Big Pine | 8.29 | 4.24 | 9.76 | 6.85 | 8.33 | 8.99 | 1.83 |
| RG-5, Goose Lake | 6.83 | 2.15 | 7.07 | 5.64 | 7.02 | 7.47 | 1.98 |
| RG-6, near Blackrock | 9.00 | 2.95 | 8.67 | 7.07 | 8.68 | 10.01 | 1.88 |
| RG-7, east of Union Wash | 5.00 | 1.61 | 4.88 | 2.14 | 4.35 | 5.06 | 1.61 |
| Water Year AVG | 6.94 | 3.19 | 7.81 | 5.01 | 6.40 | 7.85 | 2.00 |
| Pre-Growing Season Average (Oct 1-Apr 15) |
6.85 | 1.81 | 6.76 | 4.45 | 4.67 | 5.81 | 1.48 |
Table 1. Precipitation measured in ICWD rain gauges by water year (October 1 of the previous year through September 30 of the year noted).
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