City experiences wettest year since 1923

In Longmont, 2023 wasn’t just a little rainier and snowier than normal.

It was the city’s wettest year since 1923 — with two weeks still to go.

Dave Larison, who is a retired NOAA meteorologist, made the announcement on his Facebook page, Longmont Rain & Snow, earlier this week, citing data from the National Weather Service

cooperative station located just north of the Sugar Factory.

Through Friday, Longmont had recorded 21.10 inches of precipitation, which is just shy of the 21.70 inches recorded in 1923, according to Larison’s data.

The city’s highest annual precipitation on record is 22.73 inches in 1915, Larison said.

The current 30-year normal for Longmont is 15.21 inches.

While the Colorado Climate Center, NOAA and Larison each provided slightly different precipitation measurements, all three sources were in agreement that 1915 was the wettest year on record in Longmont followed by 1923 and 2023.

“We had almost 75% of our rain during that May, June period. The rest of the year’s been pretty much normal,” Larison said of 2023.

“Snowfall was about normal during January through April and the fall’s actually been a little on the dry side.”

To Larison’s point, Longmont recorded 6.50 inches of precipitation in May and 4.89 inches in June of this year.

“That was the wettest, all time, May and June period; those two months combined,” Larison said. “In that period we had 11.39 inches. … The normal combined for those two months is 3.72 (inches).”

In 2013, when Longmont experienced the worst flood event in its history, the city received 7.25 inches of rain in September alone.

However, in all of 2013, the city recorded 16.19 inches of precipitation. Longmont Water and Waste Department Assistant Director Chris Huffer said in an email Friday that the city’s overall water use is down this year and its reservoirs are generally higher.

“Based on the last 20 years, the city treats an average of 16,045 acre-feet of water at the Nelson Flanders Water Treatment Plant from January to the end of November,” Huffer said.

“This year, the city treated 14,204 acre feet which constitutes 88% of the average use.”