http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/...h/cag3/na.html
From there, in inches, the annual precip for the US has been:
1896 26.66
1896 28.68
1897 28.11
1898 28.70
1899 27.43
1900 29.88
1901 26.63
1902 29.46
1903 28.42
1904 26.84
1905 31.84
1906 31.73
1907 30.17
1908 29.17
1909 30.64
1910 24.37
1911 28.94
1912 29.75
1913 29.31
1914 28.27
1915 32.06
1916 28.90
1917 24.44
1918 27.95
1919 30.99
1920 30.39
1921 27.94
1922 29.11
1923 30.75
1924 25.95
1925 25.94
1926 30.12
1927 31.15
1928 28.67
1929 29.50
1930 25.09
1931 26.79
1932 29.60
1933 26.80
1934 25.05
1935 28.85
1936 26.59
1937 29.72
1938 28.85
1939 25.82
1940 29.63
1941 31.85
1942 30.58
1943 26.07
1944 30.08
1945 32.25
1946 30.42
1947 28.57
1948 29.65
1949 29.70
1950 29.99
1951 30.33
1952 25.63
1953 27.51
1954 25.23
1955 26.81
1956 24.57
1957 32.90
1958 29.25
1959 29.88
1960 27.95
1961 30.41
1962 27.80
1963 24.77
1964 29.23
1965 28.95
1966 26.67
1967 28.61
1968 29.52
1969 29.79
1970 28.54
1971 29.29
1972 30.77
1973 33.99
1974 29.72
1975 32.02
1976 25.62
1977 29.62
1978 29.17
1979 32.02
1980 27.38
1981 29.17
1982 32.99
1983 33.81
1984 30.48
1985 29.41
1986 30.61
1987 28.46
1988 25.25
1989 28.42
1990 31.40
1991 31.77
1992 30.67
1993 31.97
1994 30.04
1995 31.69
1996 32.59
1997 31.29
1998 32.97
1999 27.84
2000 27.73
2001 28.58
2002 28.66
2003 29.95
2004 32.88
2005 29.84
2006 29.39
They called it the Dirty Thirties of the dust bowl on the Plains, but
actually from the above
it was 1910 that had the least amount of rainfall. Perhaps the decade
of the thirties was the
worst decade. But then the measuring in early years may have been
rather crude and not
precise enough.
The above list shows that Rainfall is a Zero-Sum parameter, unlike
temperature which is
steadily rising due to Global Warming and perhaps due to the Sun's
solar flare cycles.
It maybe that Rainfall is a Near-Zero-Sum parameter where there is a
small gradual
increase in Rain over landmass over time.
Now one way to perhaps guage or assess Zero-Sum is to ask the question
was there ever
a geological time in which there were no deserts to speak of. Where
all the landmass
continents were green and lush with plants and that no dry desert
existed? I know of no
such time. If there was such a time would perhaps debunk the Zero-Sum
claim. Keeping in
mind that Rain could still be Zero-Sum even if there were no deserts
in that all areas
would receive more rain than that of a desert climate.
But one of the reasons we have deserts is so that other regions can
have more rainfall than
they otherwise would receive.
Now I would think that Rainfall should be slightly increasing and not
a perfect Zero-Sum. Increasing
due to the fact that temperatures are increasing and freeing up water
locked in the polar regions.
And due to the fact of more heat energy in the atmosphere as a means
of delivery of more water
to the continental landmasses. So as temperature increases due to
Global Warming that hurricanes
and typhoons increase in frequency and intensity dumping more water as
rainfall. So the Zero-Sum
is more likely to be a Small Increasing Sum. And the last decades of
1980s and
1990s shows us the increasing rainfall trend.
Now I wonder if some plants can tell us easier, whether rainfall is
slightly increasing. Are plants like
ferns increasing worldwide? Are some weeds that need more water than
other weeds increasing?
Archimedes Plutonium
www.iw.net/~a_plutonium
whole entire Universe is just one big atom
where dots of the electron-dot-cloud are galaxies