How to get recent rainfall (precipitation) info

[pete_dickson1]

I'm considering a spring trip to photograph flowers in any of several

desert regions. I understand the flowers generally do better when it

rains. Is there someplace I can find data on current season rainfall

to help with the decision?

[lenny7]

While I can't answer your question directly, the USGS has a site that may be of use. Go to: http://water.usgs.gov/dwc/ .

 

This maintains realtime stream levels for US. A rise in stream level could indicate rain somewhere in the water shed...or it could just be flow control via a damn.

[Hector Javkin]

Try <a href="http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/ol/climate/research/2000/jan/us_national.html">here</a><p>

I don't think they have the February figures yet, but they might in a couple of days.

[craig_gillette]

This'll get you to the NOAA National Weather Service Offices. http://nimbo.wrh.noaa.gov/wrhq/nwspage.html Different offices seem to have different info available on their pages but you might be able to contact them directly and find cumulative records. State Agriculture or University extensions may also have info available.

[john_demske]

Try yahoo/regions or http://weather.yahoo.com/

 

 

John Demske

[frank_kolwicz]

If you are going to a place that is known for desert wildflowers you might look for a wildflower hotline for that area. There's one for California's Mojave desert that may link to other areas, but I don't remember the address; it should be easily searchable on the net. The visitor info centers and websites for the desert national parks, like Joshua Tree, should have pointers to wildflower info on the web and to hotlines.

 

The site I remember has both short and long range predictions and current status of the bloom and may have the ususual dates of the peak bloom (for some areas that may be in March, for others May).

[ydobon]

<p>If you go to the top level of the NOAA web site <a href="http://www.noaa.gov/">www.noaa.gov</a>, there's a search engine (Excite for Web Servers). Typing in "precipitation" into the search engine will result in the following URL (which consists of four NOAA web sites):

 

<ul>

<a href="http://www.websites.noaa.gov/guide/sciences/atmo/precip.html">http://www.websites.noaa.gov/guide/sciences/atmo/precip.html</a>

</ul>

 

<p>Hope this helps.