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USDA meteorologist sees ‘remarkable’ long-term precipitation trend

USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey has been looking at long-term precipitation trends. 

Rippey says the data shows more heavy and off-season rain events than there were fifty years ago.

“For the country as a whole, if you break it down and just look at it over the last 50 years, we’re about an inch wetter than what we saw back in 1970,” he says.

That may not sound like much. But Rippey says when you look at specific regions, the differences are much bigger.

“Specifically, the primary corn and soybean belt, where we’re seeing a trend that’s much more remarkable. It’s on the order of about four inches per 50 years wetter than what we saw back in the early 1970’s.”

Rippey says the effect of that has been more winter runoff and off-season flooding.

“And 2019 was a great example, where we saw virtually year-long flooding throughout the Mississippi Basin.”