The proverb "you have to take the good with the bad" may apply to rainfall that comes along with thunderstorms in Iowa producing severe weather. How much do these severe thunderstorms contribute to Iowa's total rainfall? The featured chart presents the contribution of yearly rainfall totals for Des Moines during time periods under which the airport was under either a severe thunderstorm or tornado warning, the period including the hour before and after severe weather, and the rest of the year. The +/- hour period does not include the warning period or any other warnings that may have been active at the time. This chart is based on the one minute interval precipitation observations. Based on this data, these thunderstorms generally bring around 10% of the yearly total of precipitation. The severe thunderstorm contribution so far for 2012 is much higher due to an intense storm back on 14 April and the limited data so far this year.

Voting:
Good = 36
Bad = 14

Tags:   precip   climate