Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By RALPH ANSAMI
Ironwood — October’s rain has continued into November as Ironwood was working on an 11-day rain streak as of Monday.
It began drizzling shortly before noon on Monday in downtown Ironwood, continuing the soggy spell.
Rain totals are kept for 24-hour periods to 7 a.m. for the National Weather Service at the Gogebic-Iron Wastewater Treatment Plant off Cloverland Drive and it had rained every day from Friday, Oct. 23, through Monday.
Here are the precipitation totals recorded at the plant:
Oct. 24 — .43 inch; Oct. 25 — .15; Oct. 26 — .05; Oct. 27 — .21; Oct. 28 — .40; Oct. 29 — .73; Oct. 30 — .38; Oct. 31 — .40; Nov. 1 — .30; Nov. 2 — .02.
If all of that precipitation (3.07 inches) had been snow over the past two weeks, it would have amounted to more than three feet.
Because the first three weeks of October were so dry, total precipitation for the month of 3.67 inches was slightly below the long-term average of 3.98 inches.
The average October temperature in Ironwood for this October was 44.5 degrees, compared to the norm of 43.4. The record low average for the month was 33.8 degrees in 1917.
The weatherman was calling for warm temperatures through Thursday for Ironwood, with a high of 64 predicted for today and Wednesday’s high around 63.
Rain will return Thursday, with a high of 56, and Friday’s high is forecast at only 41.
Snowy November
According to records for Ironwood covering the past 110 years, Ironwood averages 24.5 inches of snow for November and 2.7 inches of precipitation. Last year, 89.2 inches of snow fell in Ironwood during November, totaling 5.87 inches of precipitation, according to the NWS.
The lowest snow total for November in Ironwood’s recorded history was 2.5 inches in 1984.
