2002 Drought Reboot

2020 has brought Eight inches of Snow and .45" in May. Then dry, windy weather for three months until the first Sunday of August. That day brought 75 mph vertical winds and 2" hail. All the tree leaves and year old grass were pounded into the ground. The leaves came back half-way and then came the Arctic front and single digit wind chills.

Still the NOAA records for our district states that we are at 70% to date. According to our personal records we are below 40% normal. When we checked the NOAA records we totaled the rainfall column and then totaled the Evapotranspiration column. There was a deficit between rainfall and the ET rate of 1.25". So how can NOAA claim we are at 70% when we are technically below zero?