Laserfiche WebLink
<br />seen in Figure 13, has been compared to the 1985 precipitation totals (Fig. 15) <br /> <br />measured by the network observers. <br /> <br />What is displayed in Figure 16 is the departure above or below the 30- <br /> <br />year norm, given in inches of precipitation, over that 5 month period. Within <br /> <br />the target area in 1985 is seen a large area of less than normal precipitation, <br /> <br />south of a line running northeast to southwest from north-central Hodgeman <br /> <br />County. to northwestern Stanton County, except for the extreme southeast <br /> <br />part of Ford County. <br /> <br />North of the NE-SW average rainfall line the departures were mixed with <br /> <br />below average precipitation seen in a narrow north-south band across <br /> <br />western Lane and east-central Finney counties and, separately, in the areas <br /> <br />of southeast Greeley, southeast Wallace, almost all of Wichita, and the <br /> <br />northwest quarter of Scott counties. <br /> <br />The northeast-southwest orientation seems to be related to hailfall <br /> <br />occurrences. Looking ahead to Figure 18, an analysis of the numbers of <br /> <br />crop hail insurance claims, we see the same general northeast-southwest <br /> <br />orientation of below normal rainfall associated with relatively fewer in- <br /> <br />surance claims; whereas, the above normal rainfall areas appear associated <br /> <br />with higher hail frequency as inferred fromthe crop insurance claims. <br /> <br />For instance, Stanton and Hamilton counties have the highest number of <br /> <br />insurance claims in or near the target area; Stanton County being slightly <br /> <br />above normal in rainfall and well above normal rainfall in Hamilton County <br /> <br />(declared a federal disaster area this year due to crop hail damage). <br /> <br />The 1985 April-August rainfall totals over the target area (Figure 11) <br /> <br />range from less than 7 inches in east-central Haskell County to above 18 <br /> <br />inches over the north portion of the Kearny/Hamilton County Line. Actually, <br /> <br />the results depicted in Figure 15 are not unusual, but further demonstrate <br /> <br />the wide variability of rainfall distribution assoicated with summertime <br /> <br />convective precipitation. <br /> <br />-19- <br />