[Dave K]

Here are the updated league tables, one for March only and the other complete from the start of the challenge. Don't forget to click on the thumbnails to enlarge them

In March, Quillayute was far and away the wettest place with only Norwegian stations keeping the European end up. Skye/Lusa was the wettest in the UK (although as ever Cluanie Inn - with around 180 - 190mm for March - would be wetter if it could be included). Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland were impressively dry with Lough Fea even managing to beat Spanish and French locations to be the driest!

As mentioned before, the number of Scottish stations will be trimmed - by eliminating Islay Port Ellen and Glasgow Bishopton as the two least wet in the country.

The figures may differ from official returns because of applied QC and differences in time/date in compiling the data for March - but I hope not by much...


March Only


All dates to 1st April

[Dave K]

Updates for the first five days of April only. Still very wet for Washington State and B.C., nowhere totally dry and Capel Curig has stopped reporting yet again...

LOCATION	TOTAL mm	01/04/2012	02/04/2012	03/04/2012	04/04/2012	05/04/2012
Quillayute, WA	91.4	22.6	4.8	49.0	15.0	Trace
Port Hardy, B.C.	50.0	0.0	0.2	45.2	4.6	Trace
Squamish Airport, B.C.	48.2	10.8	4.9	14.1	18.4	0.0
Loch Glascarnoch	29.2	0.2	13.8	5.0	8.0	2.2
Oviedo	28.5	0.0	0.0	0.7	3.3	24.5
Aultbea	18.2	0.2	2.6	14.2	0.8	0.4
Bergen/Florida	15.8	5.5	5.9	0.7	0.0	3.7
Tulloch Bridge	13.8	Trace	Trace	5.6	7.4	0.8
Eskdalemuir	13.2	0.2	0.0	5.2	6.8	1.0
Keswick	11.6	0.0	0.0	2.8	8.8	0.0
Skye/Lusa	11.2	Trace	2.6	8.4	Trace	0.2
Lake Vyrnwy	11.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	3.2	7.6
San Sebastián / Igueldo	10.5	0.0	0.0	0.3	5.9	4.3
Ballypatrick Forest	7.8	0.0	0.2	4.2	3.4	0.0
Belmullet	6.5	Trace	1.0	3.0	0.6	1.9
Connaught Airport	6.0	0.1	0.4	5.0	0.5	Trace
Pointe de Socoa	5.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.6	2.6
Liarvatn	4.9	1.2	2.3	0.2	0.0	1.2
Lough Fea	4.2	0.0	0.2	2.4	1.6	0.0
Vestmannaeyjar	3.2	0.5	1.5	0.1	1.0	0.1
Sauda	2.7	0.7	1.2	0.0	0.0	0.8
Capel Curig	1.8	0.0	0.2	1.6	No Report	No Report
Shap	1.4	0.0	0.0	0.6	0.6	0.2
Valentia Obs.	0.8	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.7	0.0
Yakutat, AK	0.3	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	Trace
Quimper-Cornouaille	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.0

This post has been edited by Big Dave's Gusset: 05 April 2012 - 14:38

[Dave K]

Update for the last 5 days only. For a change, the US and Canadian stations have been quite dry - but Capel Curig is back and the French stations finally get some decent amounts!

LOCATION	TOTAL mm	06/04/2012	07/04/2012	08/04/2012	09/04/2012	10/04/2012
Capel Curig	51.6	No Report	3.6	3.8	18.0	26.2
Liarvatn	46.9	33.0	0.0	0.0	4.3	9.6
Lake Vyrnwy	33.4	5.0	0.0	2.0	9.0	17.4
Oviedo	32.4	1.5	22.5	8.4	0.0	Trace
Pointe de Socoa	31.8	2.6	14.7	2.2	12.1	0.2
Quimper-Cornouaille	31.5	0.0	0.0	Trace	Trace	31.5
Bergen/Florida	31.5	17.9	0.1	0.0	3.7	9.8
Sauda	30.3	13.9	0.0	0.0	8.1	8.3
Valentia Obs.	27.8	0.1	0.7	Trace	12.0	15.0
San Sebastián / Igueldo	26.2	9.6	11.4	1.8	3.2	0.2
Loch Glascarnoch	22.2	4.0	7.2	5.2	4.8	1.0
Ballypatrick Forest	21.8	1.4	2.0	4.6	2.2	11.6
Eskdalemuir	21.6	0.2	1.8	0.2	3.2	16.2
Tulloch Bridge	19.8	0.4	1.4	Trace	5.4	12.6
Keswick	19.6	0.2	5.2	0.2	3.0	11.0
Skye/Lusa	19.0	3.8	5.6	1.0	6.6	2.0
Aultbea	18.0	2.8	2.6	2.0	8.6	2.0
Shap	16.4	0.0	1.6	1.2	1.0	12.6
Connaught Airport	15.9	0.9	2.9	0.4	6.0	5.7
Vestmannaeyjar	14.5	1.0	2.1	11.4	0.0	0.0
Belmullet	12.6	0.7	1.9	Trace	5.0	5.0
Lough Fea	11.8	0.4	0.2	0.4	2.4	8.4
Quillayute, WA	7.0	2.0	5.0	0.0	Trace	Trace
Port Hardy, B.C.	5.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	Trace	5.6
Yakutat, AK	0.5	0.5	Trace	Trace	0.0	0.0
Squamish Airport, B.C.	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

[Dave K]

Update for the last 5 days only again. The NW coast of North America continues its dry spell but the Atlantic coast from the French Pays-Basques to Asturias in Spain is enduring much wetter weather this month.

LOCATION	TOTAL mm	11/04/2012	12/04/2012	13/04/2012	14/04/2012	15/04/2012
Oviedo	83.1	7.3	10.8	20.2	16.5	28.3
Pointe de Socoa	66.4	24.5	0.8	10.0	16.1	15.0
San Sebastián / Igueldo	52.2	4.8	0.8	11.3	22.4	12.9
Bergen/Florida	30.4	19.7	2.7	1.5	6.0	0.5
Sauda	25.4	11.1	12.3	0.0	0.5	1.5
Eskdalemuir	25.0	11.6	11.4	1.8	Trace	0.2
Liarvatn	16.7	N/R	12.8	2.0	1.8	0.1
Ballypatrick Forest	16.2	4.2	2.6	3.8	5.6	0.0
Lake Vyrnwy	12.0	1.0	2.0	0.2	8.6	0.2
Tulloch Bridge	11.4	6.2	3.4	1.2	0.4	0.2
Capel Curig	9.8	0.2	4.2	0.0	4.4	1.0
Connaught Airport	9.7	2.2	3.4	4.0	Trace	0.1
Belmullet	8.4	4.2	0.9	0.8	0.4	2.1
Lough Fea	7.0	3.6	1.4	0.0	1.8	0.2
Loch Glascarnoch	6.8	1.0	2.4	0.8	1.4	1.2
Shap	6.8	4.0	2.2	0.6	0.0	0.0
Quimper-Cornouaille	6.6	2.4	0.4	0.0	3.8	0.0
Port Hardy, B.C.	6.4	2.8	1.2	1.4	1.0	0.0
Valentia Obs.	4.6	2.7	0.9	0.8	0.2	Trace
Quillayute, WA	4.3	0.0	0.0	4.3	0.0	0.0
Yakutat, AK	4.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	4.3
Vestmannaeyjar	3.8	3.0	0.2	0.0	0.6	0.0
Aultbea	3.8	0.8	1.0	Trace	0.2	1.8
Skye/Lusa	3.6	2.6	Trace	0.6	0.4	Trace
Keswick	3.2	3.2	Trace	Trace	0.0	Trace
Squamish Airport, B.C.	2.9	0.0	2.9	0.0	0.0	0.0

[Dave K]

DAY 106: The complete league table updated to the 15th April.

[Dave K]

Update again for the last 5 days only.

LOCATION	TOTAL mm	16/04/2012	17/04/2012	18/04/2012	19/04/2012	20/04/2012
Pointe de Socoa	65.5	8.5	0.6	6.2	13.1	37.1
Quillayute, WA	45.6	8.6	4.0	5.3	1.8	25.9
San Sebastián / Igueldo	40.8	5.9	0.0	3.8	6.5	24.6
Oviedo	40.1	11.8	0.1	3.1	14.5	10.6
Squamish Airport, B.C.	37.8	0.0	9.5	0.4	4.6	23.3
Shap	36.8	0.0	16.0	9.8	8.0	3.0
Belmullet	36.1	0.7	13.0	13.0	6.0	3.4
Capel Curig	32.2	0.4	19.2	7.4	1.4	3.8
Valentia Obs.	32.0	1.0	14.0	9.0	2.0	6.0
Quimper-Cornouaille	29.2	Trace	7.2	4.6	12.6	4.8
Lake Vyrnwy	27.4	0.0	15.4	5.6	5.4	1.0
Lough Fea	21.8	0.0	17.6	4.0	0.2	0.0
Connaught Airport	21.2	0.0	13.6	6.0	1.3	0.3
Eskdalemuir	18.6	0.2	10.4	3.0	4.2	0.8
Tulloch Bridge	15.4	Trace	9.2	4.2	1.8	0.2
Loch Glascarnoch	15.2	0.4	5.6	8.4	Trace	0.8
Ballypatrick Forest	14.0	0.0	10.6	3.4	0.0	0.0
Skye/Lusa	12.2	Trace	9.6	1.8	0.6	0.2
Keswick	12.0	Trace	4.4	6.6	1.0	0.0
Port Hardy, B.C.	6.8	1.0	3.2	0.0	0.6	2.0
Aultbea	6.2	0.8	1.4	3.4	0.2	0.4
Yakutat, AK	5.8	1.8	0.0	4.0	0.0	Trace
Liarvatn	2.2	1.1	1.1	0.0	0.0	0.0
Sauda	1.2	0.0	0.2	No Report	1.0	0.0
Bergen/Florida	0.6	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.5	0.0
Vestmannaeyjar	0.4	0.2	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0

[Adam D]

Blimey!

There are some places in your league table that are wetter than NW Scotland!

Poor sods

[Dave K]

Right, as Keswick and Shap are geographically close and the rainfall stats similar I have decided to replace Keswick with Cardinham to give coverage to a wider area for England (with all data back to the start date) - and guess what? Cardinham is the wettest place in the challenge since the last update! Here is the table of data for the last 5 days only:

LOCATION	TOTAL mm	21/04/2012	22/04/2012	23/04/2012	24/04/2012	25/04/2012
Cardinham	64.6	11.4	11.8	12.4	7.2	21.8
Quimper-Cornouaille	58.5	3.6	2.2	10.4	13.4	28.9
Squamish Airport, B.C.	31.7	0.0	0.0	3.9	1.7	26.1
Quillayute, WA	31.0	0.0	0.0	Trace	Trace	31.0
Capel Curig	27.8	5.4	9.4	5.8	6.0	1.2
Pointe de Socoa	26.5	3.0	7.4	2.4	11.5	2.2
San Sebastián / Igueldo	24.9	3.9	3.0	0.5	12.5	5.0
Valentia Obs.	24.4	8.0	Trace	15.0	1.2	0.2
Yakutat, AK	22.3	8.1	11.2	3.0	0.0	0.0
Lake Vyrnwy	15.4	7.8	0.6	4.0	0.0	3.0
Belmullet	14.9	4.0	3.9	3.0	4.0	Trace
Loch Glascarnoch	14.8	5.8	0.8	0.6	2.0	5.6
Lough Fea	14.4	2.2	3.2	8.6	0.2	0.2
Ballypatrick Forest	14.4	0.0	0.8	7.2	6.4	0.0
Shap	13.0	5.6	4.8	0.6	0.2	1.8
Connaught Airport	11.9	1.4	4.3	6.1	Trace	0.1
Aultbea	8.6	1.0	2.2	1.0	0.4	4.0
Oviedo	8.5	1.3	5.1	0.4	0.4	1.3
Bergen/Florida	6.9	2.8	0.5	0.0	2.7	0.9
Tulloch Bridge	6.8	2.4	3.0	0.2	0.2	1.0
Skye/Lusa	5.6	1.2	0.2	3.4	0.4	0.4
Port Hardy, B.C.	5.4	1.0	0.2	1.8	2.4	0.0
Eskdalemuir	4.4	1.6	0.8	Trace	0.4	1.6
Liarvatn	1.1	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0
Sauda	0.4	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.4
Vestmannaeyjar	0.0	0.0	Trace	0.0	0.0	0.0

This post has been edited by Big Dave's Gusset: 26 April 2012 - 15:08

[Dave K]

Haven't really done that much by way of " features" for locations, well this is a year long project so there is plenty of time. In the early posts we talked about the temperate rainforest of Quillayute, this village - a Indian Reservation - it is 10 miles from the city of Forks which has become famous for its "Twilight connection". If anyone has read the books - is it always raining?!



Forks is a city in Clallam County, Washington, United States. The population was 3,532 at the 2010 census. It is named after the forks in the nearby Quillayute, Bogachiel, Calawah, and Sol Duc rivers.

For many years, the city's economy was fueled by the local timber industry. With recent declines in the industry, Forks has had to rely on the nearby Clallam Bay Corrections Center and Olympic Corrections Center as a source of jobs. Forks is a popular destination for sport fishers who fish for salmon and rainbow trout in nearby rivers. It is also supported by visitors to Olympic National Park.

The city has gained popularity for being a key setting in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series.

Forks was officially incorporated on August 28, 1945 following an election of the constituents who would become its first town members.

As of the census of 2000, there were 3,120 people, 1,169 households, and 792 families residing in the city. The population density was 998.6 people per square mile (386.1/km2). There were 1,361 housing units at an average density of 435.6 per square mile (168.4/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 81.47% White, 0.42% African American, 5.03% Native American, 1.51% Asian, 0.16% Pacific Islander, 8.49% from other races, and 2.92% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.54% of the population.

Forks has an oceanic climate with very high rainfall. Although there is drying trend in summer, rain is still abundant, just not as wet as the rest of the year. Forks averages 211 days per year with measurable precipitation. The Olympic rainforest surrounds the town.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.1 square miles (8.1 km2).

The City is organized under Washington State law as a Non-charter Code City. Its structure is that of an elected Mayor and a five member elected City Council. Unlike other cities on the Olympic Peninsula, Forks operates under what is called a "strong Mayor" form of government with the Mayor being the Chief Executive Officer overseeing four department heads (Clerk/Treasurer, Public Works, Police, and Legal/Planning).

On the South end of town is the Forks Timber Museum. Constructed in 1990 by the Forks High School carpentry class, the 3,200-square-foot (300 m2) building provides a look back into the local history of the timber industry, loggers of the past and their tools of the trade. The museum has exhibits depicting local history dating back to the 1870s.

Depending on the person, there are several things to do in Forks. For the teenage group there is a group called the Rainy Day Gamers. These gamers gather every Friday at the ICN Building located a couple blocks away from the stoplight at 71 North Spartan. For others, Forks serves as the hub for numerous day excursions to the Hoh Rainforest, the Pacific Beaches, and various wilderness trails.

A large percentage of Forks visitors are fans of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, which is set in the town. The Twilight series of books have sold over 100 million copies and have spawned a series of successful films. Tours are available of locations that resemble the places described in Meyer's books, although the movies were not actually filmed in Forks. The average annual number of tourists visiting the town rose from 10,000 before Twilight to 19,000 in 2008, the year of the first film, and 73,000 by 2010.

Forks is well known for its winter steelhead trout fishing with the Quillayute river system - the Hoh, Sol Duc, Bogachiel and Calawah rivers. Other nearby Clallam, Sekiu and Hoko rivers are also good for king salmon fishing and steelheading as well.

Local guides are available for both native and hatchery runs and for float trips. Fishing gear and clothing is available at local stores.

Forks has a display of one of a very few Shay engines remaining in Washington. Shay locomotives are unusual in that they have a crank shaft running down the side, powering all wheels. Rayonier #10 (c/n 3348) was built for stock by Lima in 1930. It has three cylinders and three trucks. It took 11 years until it was finally sold to the Ozette Timber Company. In 1945 it was acquired by Rayonier for their lumber operation near Forks. It was retired near the north end of Forks in Tillicum Park in 1959. The Forks Lions Club erected an attractive shelter over the #10 in 1999 as well as building and maintaining most of the structures in the park over the last 40 years.

[hide]Climate data for Forks, Washington
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °F (°C)	67 (19)	75 (24)	79 (26)	85 (29)	96 (36)	98 (37)	101 (38)	102 (39)	100 (38)	88 (31)	73 (23)	65 (18)	102 (39)
Average high °F (°C)	46.6 (8.1)	49.2 (9.6)	51.8 (11.0)	55.7 (13.2)	60.4 (15.8)	63.8 (17.7)	68.2 (20.1)	69.3 (20.7)	67.3 (19.6)	59.2 (15.1)	50.8 (10.4)	46.5 (8.1)	57.4 (14.1)
Average low °F (°C)	34.6 (1.4)	35.1 (1.7)	35.7 (2.1)	37.6 (3.1)	41.9 (5.5)	46.0 (7.8)	49.0 (9.4)	49.2 (9.6)	45.7 (7.6)	40.9 (4.9)	37.5 (3.1)	34.6 (1.4)	40.7 (4.8)
Record low °F (°C)	3 (−16)	8 (−13)	12 (−11)	21 (−6)	25 (−4)	30 (−1)	34 (1)	34 (1)	24 (−4)	21 (−6)	8 (−13)	3 (−16)	3 (−16)
Precipitation inches (mm)	14.65 (372.1)	13.35 (339.1)	10.98 (278.9)	7.44 (189)	5.51 (140)	3.5 (89)	2.34 (59.4)	2.67 (67.8)	4.15 (105.4)	10.81 (274.6)	16.01 (406.7)	15.5 (394)	106.91 (2,715.5)
Snowfall inches (cm)	4.60 (11.68)	1.91 (4.85)	2.34 (5.94)	0.20 (0.51)	0.01 (0.03)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0.01 (0.03)	0.60 (1.52)	2.41 (6.12)	12.08 (30.68)
Avg. precipitation days	23	20	22	19	16	14	10	10	12	19	22	24	211

[Ian Williams]

Blimey Dave that sure is alot of rain they have, wouldn`t want to live there that`s for sure. Talking of Cardinham, i record the figures daily from there along with Plymouth Mountbatten as St Germans is in between the 2 of them. Cardinham this month to 0000UTC on the 27th has had 154.4 mm, and Plymouth has had 117.8 mm

[Dave K]

 Ian Williams, on 27 April 2012 - 14:36, said:

Blimey Dave that sure is alot of rain they have, wouldn`t want to live there that`s for sure.

Gotta love us white folks, first we push the indigenous native people into the wettest possible place then build "Clallam Bay Corrections Center and Olympic Corrections Center" and send crims there too

 Ian Williams, on 27 April 2012 - 14:36, said:

Talking of Cardinham, i record the figures daily from there along with Plymouth Mountbatten as St Germans is in between the 2 of them. Cardinham this month to 0000UTC on the 27th has had 154.4 mm, and Plymouth has had 117.8 mm

Have you decided if you want your local UKMO station to do well or badly in this?

[Ian Williams]

Definitely badly, but not got off to a good start! I have had enough of rain now - at this rate after the first 3 dry months i am hoping we are not looking at another year 2000!!!!!

[Dave K]

Update of daily data for the last 6 days of April as reported at 06z generally for each date. NW Scotland has been the place to hide from the rain!

League tables to follow...

LOCATION	TOTAL mm	26/04/2012	27/04/2012	28/04/2012	29/04/2012	30/04/2012	01/05/2012
Quillayute, WA	100.9	53.6	7.4	6.1	5.8	18.3	9.7
Quimper-Cornouaille	99.2	15.1	0.4	0.0	17.5	56.2	10.0
Yakutat, AK	65.8	0.0	10.7	3.0	3.8	45.0	3.3
San Sebastián / Igueldo	64.5	3.1	0.7	19.2	38.5	1.0	2.0
Lake Vyrnwy	58.8	18.0	14.2	5.0	0.0	18.8	2.8
Pointe de Socoa	55.5	2.2	0.4	22.1	28.2	1.0	1.6
Squamish Airport, B.C.	50.0	35.5	3.5	0.5	0.0	3.3	7.2
Cardinham	45.2	8.2	3.6	8.0	2.6	16.2	6.6
Capel Curig	44.0	8.6	10.4	0.8	0.2	23.6	0.4
Loch Glascarnoch	31.6	22.4	4.2	3.4	Trace	0.2	1.4
Shap	28.8	10.6	11.6	0.0	0.2	6.4	0.0
Liarvatn	22.6	0.0	14.3	7.9	0.0	0.4	0.0
Vestmannaeyjar	22.6	0.6	0.0	7.0	11.0	0.0	4.0
Port Hardy, B.C.	19.7	5.0	0.2	1.2	2.2	3.8	7.3
Oviedo	19.7	0.5	0.0	1.2	14.7	2.5	0.8
Valentia Obs.	19.5	5.0	9.0	0.0	0.0	5.0	0.5
Bergen/Florida	15.9	0.3	12.3	3.3	0.0	0.0	0.0
Eskdalemuir	12.4	5.2	3.0	0.2	Trace	4.0	0.0
Sauda	11.6	0.0	7.1	3.9	0.0	0.6	0.0
Tulloch Bridge	11.2	5.8	Trace	Trace	Trace	0.4	5.0
Lough Fea	8.2	3.2	0.2	0.2	0.0	4.6	0.0
Ballypatrick Forest	7.6	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	7.4	0.0
Belmullet	5.4	0.7	4.7	Trace	Trace	Trace	0.0
Connaught Airport	2.3	0.3	0.0	Trace	Trace	2.0	Trace
Skye/Lusa	1.4	0.2	Trace	Trace	0.0	0.0	1.2
Aultbea	1.0	0.2	0.8	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

[Dave K]

The League Table for April only, and Pointe de Socoa was "unlucky" that Quillayute overtook it for top spot right on the last day. Not sure which is more surprising: that Spain and France were so wet or that Skye/Lusa was so dry (relatively)! Certainly the coastline from NW Spain to Brittany copped some big daily totals in April. I think that the southern UK had Norway's rain this month and NW Spain and W France had Scotland's...





Here is the fully updated League Table with all data from January 1st. Vestmannaeyjar is the first location to reach 100 rain days. Biggest mover is Quimper-Cornouaille which has leaped up 5 places from last place. Ireland and Northern Ireland doing "badly"!

This post has been edited by Big Dave's Gusset: 01 May 2012 - 13:09

[Dave K]

And one more table, to show the breakdown by monthly total for each site (listed A- Z) so far.

[Dave K]

Time for another feature on one of the locations in the project, Yakutat is the wettest since the start of May so today it has the honour.

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The City and Borough of Yakutat is a unified city-borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2010 census, the population was 4,035. The name is Tlingit, Yaakwdáat ("the place where canoes rest") but it originally derives from an Eyak name diyaʼqudaʼt and was influenced by the Tlingit word yaakw ("canoe, boat"). Besides the original City of Yakutat 59°32′49″N 139°43′38″W (the urban part), described below, the only other significant population center in the borough is the community of Icy Bay, the site of the Icy Bay Airport, in the west-central part of the borough. Yakutat City is the largest city in the United States by area, and the twelfth largest city in the world by area. Yakutat is about six times as large as the state of Rhode Island.

Yakutat's population center is located at 59°32′49″N 139°43′38″W, at the mouth of Yakutat Bay. It lies in an isolated location in lowlands along the Gulf of Alaska, 212 miles (340 km) northwest of Juneau.

The city and borough has a total area of 9,459 square miles (24,500 km2). 7,650 square miles (19,800 km2) of it is land and 1,809 square miles (4,690 km2) of it (19.12%) is water. It borders the Gulf of Alaska to the west, Valdez-Cordova Census Area, Alaska to the northwest, Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, Alaska to the southeast, Stikine Region, British Columbia to the northeast-east and Yukon Territory to the north.



The original settlers in the Yakutat area are believed to have been Eyak-speaking people from the Copper River area. Tlingits migrated into the area and assimilated the Eyaks before the arrival of Europeans in Alaska. Yakutat was only one of a number of Tlingit and mixed Tlingit-Eyak settlements in the region, although all the others have been depopulated or abandoned.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, English, French, Spanish and Russian explorers came to the region. The Shelikhov-Golikov company, precursor of the Russian-American Company, built a fort in Yakutat in 1795 to facilitate trade in sea otter pelts. It was known as New Russia, Yakutat Colony, or Slavorossiya. When the Russians cut off access to the fisheries nearby, a Tlingit war party attacked and destroyed the fort.

By 1886, after the Alaska Purchase by the United States, the black sand beaches in the area were being mined for gold. In 1889 the Swedish Free Mission Church opened a school and sawmill in the area. A cannery, another sawmill, a store and a railroad were constructed from 1903 by the Stimson Lumber Company. Many people moved to the current site of Yakutat to be closer to the Stimpson cannery, which operated through 1970. During World War II, the USAAF stationed a large aviation garrison near Yakutat and built a paved runway. The troops were withdrawn after the war but the runway is still in use as Yakutat Airport, which offers scheduled airline service.

Fishing is currently the largest economic activity in Yakutat.

Yakutat Tlingit Tribe (YTT) received a Language Preservation Grant from the Administration for Native Americans in 2004. With this, they have reinvigorated their efforts to teach the Tlingit language to middle-aged and young people. YTT received another ANA grant in 2007 and is expanding its role in the schools. All the YTT Tlingit language revitalization work focuses on using communicative approaches to second language teaching, such as TPR and ASLA.[vague]

While working at a local cannery from 1912 to 1941, Seiki Kayamori extensively photographed Yakutat and its area. A large set of prints of his work is held by Yakutat City Hall.

Yakutat was incorporated at a unified city-borough on September 22, 1992. Until this time, it had been part of the Skagway-Yakutat-Angoon Census Area, which was afterwards renamed to Skagway-Hoonah-Angoon Census Area.

The borough contains part of the protected areas of Chugach National Forest, Glacier Bay National Park, Glacier Bay Wilderness, Tongass National Forest, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Wrangell-Saint Elias Wilderness and the Russell Fjord Wilderness.

One unique feature in the Borough is Hubbard Glacier, one of the few advancing glaciers. In 1986 and 2002, the glacier blocked the entrance to Russell Fiord. The resulting Russell Lake rose 83 and 61 feet, until the glacial dam failed. If Russell Lake rises to 135 feet, the water will spill over a pass and flow into the Situk River. This will have a major impact on a world class fishery. Yakutat will not be impacted unless the glacier advances to the townsite, which could take a thousand years. The vegetation in the area indicates that water was flowing over the pass until about 1860.

Yakutat has a climate located on the boundary of subarctic (Dfc) and subpolar oceanic (Cfc); although it is in detail much more like a subpolar oceanic climate, the mean January temperature at 25.3 °F (−3.7 °C) is beyond the −3 °C (26.6 °F) limit of “oceanic” climates. Yakutat has the typical high precipitation, absence of frozen soil and temperate rainforest vegetation of the subpolar oceanic climate zone of the Pacific Coast. It rivals Ketchikan as the wettest “city” in the United States, with an annual precipitation of 144 inches (3.7 m), which falls on 234 days of the year.

Climate data for Yakutat, Alaska
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °F (°C)	55 (13)	54 (12)	59 (15)	71 (22)	79 (26)	87 (31)	85 (29)	88 (31)	77 (25)	63 (17)	55 (13)	52 (11)	88 (31)
Average high °F (°C)	31.7 (−0.2)	35.5 (1.9)	38.4 (3.6)	44.4 (6.9)	50.9 (10.5)	56.5 (13.6)	59.8 (15.4)	60.2 (15.7)	55.5 (13.1)	47.3 (8.5)	38.4 (3.6)	33.8 (1.0)	46.03 (7.80)
Average low °F (°C)	18.9 (−7.3)	21.8 (−5.7)	23.3 (−4.8)	29.3 (−1.5)	36.5 (2.5)	43.8 (6.6)	48.1 (8.9)	46.8 (8.2)	41.3 (5.2)	34.5 (1.4)	26.4 (−3.1)	22.4 (−5.3)	32.76 (0.42)
Record low °F (°C)	−22 (−30)	−20 (−29)	−20 (−29)	4 (−16)	21 (−6)	29 (−2)	35 (2)	29 (−2)	21 (−6)	6 (−14)	−6 (−21)	−24 (−31)	−24 (−31)
Precipitation inches (mm)	11.39 (289.3)	10.32 (262.1)	10.18 (258.6)	8.90 (226.1)	8.73 (221.7)	5.94 (150.9)	8.07 (205)	12.07 (306.6)	18.39 (467.1)	20.79 (528.1)	14.76 (374.9)	14.38 (365.3)	143.92 (3,655.6)
Snowfall inches (cm)	35.1 (89.2)	34.9 (88.6)	36.8 (93.5)	15.1 (38.4)	2.1 (5.3)	0.0 (0)	0.0 (0)	0.0 (0)	0.0 (0)	4.7 (11.9)	20.8 (52.8)	35.5 (90.2)	185 (470)
Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.01 inch)	19	18	19	18	19	17	18	18	21	24	21	22	234
Source: http://www.wrcc.dri....iMAIN.pl?ak9941

[sorry, no usable photos of Yakutat that were any good! So below is Hubbard Glacier]

This post has been edited by Big Dave's Gusset: 05 May 2012 - 16:28

[Dave K]

Update for the last 5 days of data ending at 06z on the dates. NW Scotland still on the dry side. Quillayute grand total now over 1 500mm.

LOCATION	TOTAL mm	02/05/2012	03/05/2012	04/05/2012	05/05/2012	06/05/2012
Yakutat, AK	30.3	4.1	7.9	5.6	3.8	8.9
Quillayute, WA	16.5	5.8	2.0	6.1	2.3	0.3
Port Hardy, B.C.	15.6	5.4	6.2	0.8	1.6	1.6
Lake Vyrnwy	9.4	8.8	0.0	0.2	0.2	0.2
Quimper-Cornouaille	8.4	2.0	0.0	0.4	5.0	1.0
Bergen/Florida	5.6	0.3	0.0	1.7	0.3	3.3
San Sebastián / Igueldo	5.5	0.0	0.0	3.4	0.0	2.1
Oviedo	5.5	0.0	0.0	0.7	2.5	2.3
Valentia Obs.	5.0	1.0	0.7	3.0	Trace	0.3
Loch Glascarnoch	4.0	0.0	0.2	1.2	0.4	2.2
Lough Fea	4.0	1.0	0.0	3.0	0.0	0.0
Aultbea	3.8	0.0	0.0	1.8	0.4	1.6
Pointe de Socoa	3.0	0.6	0.0	0.8	0.8	0.8
Liarvatn	3.0	0.4	0.3	0.0	0.0	2.3
Squamish Airport, B.C.	2.7	0.7	0.3	0.0	1.7	0.0
Capel Curig	2.4	2.4	0.0	0.0	0.0	Trace
Cardinham	2.2	Trace	0.0	0.0	0.4	1.8
Belmullet	1.8	1.0	Trace	0.8	Trace	Trace
Connaught Airport	1.7	0.2	0.0	0.5	1.0	0.0
Sauda	1.7	0.0	0.2	0.0	1.0	0.5
Vestmannaeyjar	1.7	Trace	0.7	1.0	0.0	Trace
Eskdalemuir	1.6	0.2	0.0	0.8	0.6	0.0
Ballypatrick Forest	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	0.0
Skye/Lusa	0.4	0.0	0.0	Trace	Trace	0.4
Shap	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.0
Tulloch Bridge	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.2	Trace	Trace

This post has been edited by Big Dave's Gusset: 06 May 2012 - 12:45

[Dave K]

Typical, even after a very wet last few days, the UK still can't deliver the top spot when up against quality international competition

Totals for the the last 5 days only at 06z for each date.

LOCATION	TOTAL mm	07/05/2012	08/05/2012	09/05/2012	10/05/2012	11/05/2012
Yakutat, AK	93.8	20.1	10.9	10.4	4.6	47.8
Capel Curig	86.6	Trace	22.4	Trace	32.0	32.2
Shap	84.2	0.0	14.8	3.6	26.2	39.6
Lake Vyrnwy	57.6	0.0	22.2	0.0	31.4	4.0
Quimper-Cornouaille	51.4	4.6	3.4	5.2	29.7	8.5
Eskdalemuir	49.0	Trace	10.8	4.4	10.0	23.8
Ballypatrick Forest	47.6	0.4	15.2	0.2	7.2	24.6
Lough Fea	39.2	0.0	20.2	0.2	2.0	16.8
Connaught Airport	34.1	7.0	6.0	0.1	8.0	13.0
Bergen/Florida	28.4	10.6	4.9	4.2	5.9	2.8
Cardinham	25.2	7.2	7.2	2.8	6.8	1.2
Liarvatn	19.4	0.3	0.3	4.0	3.9	10.9
Sauda	18.9	5.4	0.0	2.2	6.5	4.8
Belmullet	14.4	1.0	5.0	1.0	0.4	7.0
Valentia Obs.	14.0	1.0	5.0	0.9	6.0	1.1
Port Hardy, B.C.	13.2	1.8	4.8	0.6	5.0	1.0
Tulloch Bridge	12.6	Trace	5.2	0.4	1.4	5.6
Loch Glascarnoch	9.2	0.6	2.4	Trace	1.0	5.2
San Sebastián / Igueldo	8.1	0.0	2.0	6.1	0.0	0.0
Aultbea	6.4	0.0	1.0	2.2	Trace	3.2
Skye/Lusa	6.2	0.8	0.8	0.4	2.0	2.2
Pointe de Socoa	5.4	Trace	1.6	3.8	0.0	0.0
Oviedo	3.8	2.1	1.3	0.4	0.0	0.0
Quillayute, WA	1.9	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.8	0.8
Squamish Airport, B.C.	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Vestmannaeyjar	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	Trace

This post has been edited by Big Dave's Gusset: 11 May 2012 - 12:35

[Dave K]

Update for the last three days only, extremely wet yesterday in NW Scotland and Norway but Yakutat, Alaska also continues its very rainy trend. Yakutat and Sauda in Norway have both passed 1 000mm now since January 1st.

LOCATION	TOTAL mm	12/05/2012	13/05/2012	14/05/2012
Yakutat, AK	90.2	40.1	22.4	27.7
Skye/Lusa	88.0	1.0	4.0	83.0
Sauda	76.2	3.2	0.3	72.7
Loch Glascarnoch	62.8	6.4	4.2	52.2
Liarvatn	58.5	15.3	0.1	43.1
Aultbea	58.4	3.2	2.8	52.4
Bergen/Florida	57.7	3.4	6.0	48.3
Tulloch Bridge	44.4	6.8	1.4	36.2
Shap	21.0	4.0	0.0	17.0
Capel Curig	17.8	2.4	0.0	15.4
Eskdalemuir	16.2	1.2	0.2	14.8
Vestmannaeyjar	15.0	4.0	11.0	0.0
Belmullet	11.0	1.0	Trace	10.0
Lake Vyrnwy	7.0	0.6	0.0	6.4
Ballypatrick Forest	6.0	2.4	0.4	3.2
Connaught Airport	5.9	0.9	Trace	5.0
Lough Fea	5.0	2.6	0.2	2.2
Valentia Obs.	4.4	0.4	0.0	4.0
Oviedo	2.9	2.8	0.1	0.0
Cardinham	0.2	Trace	0.2	Trace
Port Hardy, B.C.	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Quillayute, WA	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Quimper-Cornouaille	0.0	Trace	0.0	0.0
San Sebastián / Igueldo	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Squamish Airport, B.C.	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Pointe de Socoa	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

[Dave K]

League table for the first half of May 2012 only, from 06z on the 1st to 06z on the 16th. Yakutat is way ahead of the field but the UK dominates the Top 10!