2013 Rainfall

                            THE RAINFALL OF 2013

Having access to almost 60 years of rainfall figures for the district, gives me a fair idea of "norms" & extremes to be expected in Pitlochry.

The overall annual average rainfall is close on 900mms (35.5 inches), though this has varied somewhat when the figures are broken down into 10 year periods. So between
1964&73, mean annual rainfall was only 775mms(30.52), but then rising in stages over 10 year cycles to 982mms (38.66 inches) by the 1997 to 2006 period. This higher rainfall has been maintained in recent years & it seems reasonable to conclude our climate in this area, is getting somewhat wetter.

Moreover, Pitlochry's wettest years have been 2002 (1285mms), 2011 (1177mms)
1990(1115mms), 1982 (1098), 1954 (1094mms) & 2000 (1082mms)----a list markedly weighted to more recent times.

Were it not for an exceptionally wet December in 2013, things were very much shaping up for a drier year. January had 96% & February only 84%.  March was very dry with only 42%. April & May were actually wetter ( though only 109% & 108% respectively).
June was very dry at 59%, July very near normal at 96%, while August at 50% & September at 53% were both very dry. October made a weak attempt to catch up at 117%, but November at just 75% was no help whatsoever in its contribution.
At this stage, less than 700mms had fallen since 01/01/13.

Then came December!   It was the wettest in that month's statistics going back nearly 60years &, moreover,only 2 months (Feb 1990 & Jan 1993) had had higher totals.
So with a contribution of 240.7mms (25%of the years total), December made quite an impact on 2013 rainfall.