A Rare Dry November Day Across the U.S.

This morning's CoCoRaHS precipitation map was very gray this morning. The lack of color on the map meant that there were few reports of measurable precipitation across the country. As of 8:00 p.m. CST today a total of 7,277 reports had been submitted to CoCoRaHS, but only 450, or 6 percent had measurable precipitation in the U.S. and Canada!  Compare that to November 1, when 56% of the 10,950 reports submitted had measurable precipitation.

The highest precipitation amount reported today was 1.26 inches at Hawaii station HI-HI-13, Volcano 4.3 SSE. The highest amount reported in the lower 48 was 0.95 inches at FL-MD-30, South Miami 0.5 N.

The main reason behind the dry weather was the massive high pressure system that covered the eastern two-thirds of the country yesterday and was the center of a cold, very dry air mass. The only precipitation to speak of in the continental U.S. was some light rain in the Pacific Northwest, some precipitation associated with the frontal system moving into the Rockies and High Plains, scattered snow showers in New York and Pennsylvania, and showers and thunderstorms in southern Florida.

Surface weather map for 4:00 p.m. EST November 13, 2013

November is typically a stormy month across the U.S. as it marks the end of the transition from fall to winter weather patterns. A dry day such as this in November over such a large portion of the country is a rare event. Below is the 30-year average precipitation for the U.S. for November 14. There is, on average, a relatively good chance for precipitation for most of the southeastern half of the country and the Pacific Northwest.  You won't see many precipitation maps like today's during the month of November.