CAPE GIRARDEAU HAS BEEN DRIER, BUT NOT BY MUCH

Actually, Cape Girardeau has been drier, but not by much.

Since Aug. 9, only 0.03 of an inch of rain has been recorded at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport. This comes in a close second behind 46 days in 1936 when no rain was recorded, said Dr. Al Robertson, a retired professor of earth science at Southeast Missouri State University.

"On August 8, we had 0.54 of an inch, but in the 43 days since then only 0.03," Robertson said.

There have been four months this century when no significant rain was recorded, he said. In September 1928, no rain fell. Only trace amounts of rain occurred in three other months: January 1943; October 1964; and August 1981, Robertson said.

"When you look at all of these months, they received rain immediately before and immediately after, so they weren't as close to 46 days," he said.

The 46 days without rain were from July 18 to Sept. 2, 1936, he said.

This record dry spell in 1936 is the only one that came during a significant period of national drought. The three worst droughts of the century happened in 1932-36, 1953-56, and 1988.

The 1988 drought affected three-fourths of the country, caused 10,000 heat-stress deaths and cost agriculture-related businesses $30 billion, according to a report by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

When weather records show a trace of rain, it refers to an amount less than 0.01 of an inch, said David Humphrey, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Paducah, Ky.

Humphrey compared a trace amount of rain to sprinkling a garden with a hose for a minute or so.

"It does a little good, but in a drought situation it's really negligible," he said.

The average daily rainfall for the region between June and August should be 0.09 of an inch to 0.11 of an inch, Humphrey said.

In order for rain to occur, moisture has to develop in the air and cluster together so that it's heavy enough to fall, he said.

"But it still needs a mechanism to move it," he said.

The most common rain makers are low pressure systems or fronts of warm or cold air, Humphrey said.

RAIN SHORTAGE

Average rainfall compared to this year's amounts for June, July and August:

June -- Average, 3.95; 1999, 2.94

July -- Average, 3.13; 1999, 0.49

August -- Average, 3.59; 1999, 0.82