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Chattanooga: Ran falls after month of dry weather

By: Adam Crisp
(Contact)

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David Glenn

It’s been nearly three weeks since the Chattanooga area has had any rain, and people are downright giddy about today’s forecast.

“There’s just so much anticipation about the rain,” said David Glenn, WTVC News Channel 9 chief meteorologist. “It was almost like a snow day.”

The rain started in patches Tuesday afternoon and was expected to continue into Thursday morning, according to the National Weather Service in Morristown, Tenn.

That’s good news, Mr. Glenn said, because the ground here is parched, and typically September and October are the driest months.

“You really don’t want to be going into September and October in a drought,” Mr. Glenn said.

But that’s exactly what has happened. The area still is gripped by a 10-inch rain deficit for the year, and September tied with 1955 as the 13th-driest September in 130 years, according to the weather service.

“We haven’t had any rain so far in October, and in September we only had 0.89 inches of rain,” said Tim Doyle, a weather service meteorologist.

That sprinkling of rain put the area 3.42 inches below normal for September.

Measurable rain fell on only five days in September, and only two of those days had more than one-quarter of an inch, Weather Service records show. The heaviest rain fell Sept. 14 when 0.44 inches of rain was recorded.

The driest September in the 130 years of observations was back in 1919, when only 0.04 inches of rain was recorded.

The rain will bring some cooler days, forecasters predict. Temperatures will hover in the 60s, but Mr. Glenn said they’ll rise to the high 70s and low 80s by the end of the week. There’s a slight chance for more rain during the middle of next week, he said.

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