March rains make mark in county’s all-time record book

Typically alive with moving tractors this time of year, the fields of Whitman County have remained empty to date this spring due to an historically soggy March.

David Jones with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Colfax reported Monday 3.75 inches of rain were recorded during March at the district’s offices atop the south hill in Colfax.

Only the tops of these picnic tables are above the waterline at Palouse’s flooded Lion’s Club park, in this photo taken March 31.

The total was close to double the average rainfall for March at Colfax which is 2.02 inches.

That total ranks this past month as the fourth wettest March, behind the 4.1 inches in 1983, the 4.04 inches in 2009 and the 3.86 inches in 1950.

NRCS rainfall records date back to 1942.

The NRCS Thornton station measured 4.27 inches of precipitation, making this past March the rainiest on record. Thornton received 4.02 inches in March of 1983.

All that rain swelled creeks and rivers in the area.

The Palouse River topped its 15-foot flood stage on the United States Geologic Survey’s gauge at Potlatch early Tuesday afternoon.

The river hit its max height at 15.28 feet at 2:45 p.m. Tuesday and it stayed above flood stage Tuesday evening, with the GS predicting it would recede early Wednesday morning.

Runoff last week also kept the river above the flood stage for more than five hours last Thursday, March 31, hitting a peak height of 15.18 feet at 8:15 a.m.

Seven volunteer stations throughout the county averaged a record 3.58 inches for the month of March. That average included reports from Colfax, Wilcox, Belmont, Garfield, Oakesdale, Thornton and Hooper.

The average could change when totals from other stations report. Prior countywide average record for March rain was 3.42 inches in 1989 when reports from 29 recording stations were averaged.

The National Weather Service reported a record amount of rainfall for April 4, when its station at the Pullman-Moscow Airport recorded .71 inches Monday. The previous record for that date was .28 inches April 4, 1962. Highest one-day rainfall ever recorded in Pullman was when 3.18 inches fell on Jan. 31, 1946.