Copeland rings out 2004 as wettest year on record

MILLPORT, Ohio – 2004 left veteran weather watcher Edwin R. Copeland scratching his head. And Copeland, whose family has been official U.S. weather observers for 112 years, thought he had seen it all before. He was wrong.
“The year 2004 will go down with the most unusual weather, local and worldwide,” Copeland said.
Record rainfall. Last year was the wettest ever recorded at Copeland’s southern Columbiana County post. He measured 56.91 inches of rain in 2004, well above the average of 36.62 inches and surpassing the previous record set in 1898 of 51.10 inches of annual rainfall.
It rained 15 more days than normal. The most rain fell in August, when Copeland measured 8.05 inches of rain.
Copeland measured three of the largest rainfalls in a 24-hour period ever recorded at his station. The largest rainfall in 24 hours was 4.8 inches Sept. 9, but he said rain north of his station “was much larger.”
“No one would ever think of Hanoverton and Kensington having two floods just 10 days apart,” Copeland added.
The moisture didn’t translate into snowfall, as Copeland recorded only 28.5 inches of snow last year, compared to the average at his station of 30 inches.
Not so cold and not so hot. Copeland also recorded only four nights with temperatures falling below zero. The coldest night was minus 9 degrees Jan. 16. The year’s warmest day came July 8, when the mercury hit 90 degrees, the only day of the year with temperatures in the 90s.
The average temperature was 50.4 degrees, compared to the average of 48.6 degrees.