Rain, sleet, snow, hail, wintry mix. Precipitation takes on many forms, and the degree to which climate change affects precipitation levels comes down to something almost everyone learns about in school--Earth's water cycle. A system in endless motion, the water cycle traces the process through which water exists in its three primary phases--liquid, solid, and gas--as it moves perpetually between the Earth and its atmosphere.
Increases in precipitation frequency and intensity are markers of climate change. When temperatures rise and oceans grow warmer, the amount of water that evaporates into the atmosphere--and the speed at which it does so--also increases. As atmospheric circulation carries the moisture-rich air over land or pushes it into a storm system, heavy rain or snow is often the result.
The continental U.S. on average received about 30 inches of precipitation between March 2022 and February 2023. Traditionally "wet" regions--such as Washington state and Alaska in the northwest and Georgia and Mississippi in the southeast--continue to have some of the rainiest counties in the United States. Other areas such as Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska, as well as pockets of the South and of California, experience the opposite extreme: drought, also largely a product of climate change.
Stacker, a media company that provides data driven journalism, cited data from the National Centers for Environmental Information to identify the counties in Arkansas that receive the most precipitation through rain, sleet, or snow. Counties are ranked by five-year precipitation averages in inches as of February 2023 with rainfall over the past year serving as a tiebreaker. Supplementary data on how last year's precipitation compares to the 100-year average for the area is also included.
In the River Valley, Sebastian County ranked as the 16th wettest in the state while neighboring Crawford County came in 48th wettest.
Here is the data for the wettest River Valley counties that made the top 50 counties in Arkansas:
15th - Scott County
Five-year precipitation average: 61.54 inches
Precipitation over the past year: 56.35 inches (#103 rainiest year since 1895)
Precipitation compared to 1901-2000 average: 7.98 inches above norm
16th - Sebastian County
Five-year precipitation average: 61.13 inches
Precipitation over the past year: 52.68 inches (#99 rainiest year since 1895)
Precipitation compared to 1901-2000 average: 7.29 inches above norm
27th - Johnson County
Five-year precipitation average: 60.02 inches
Precipitation over the past year: 57.27 inches (#100 rainiest year since 1895)
Precipitation compared to 1901-2000 average: 7.85 inches above norm
38th - Franklin County
Five-year precipitation average: 58.43 inches
Precipitation over the past year: 51.34 inches (#83 rainiest year since 1895)
Precipitation compared to 1901-2000 average: 3.27 inches above norm
48th - Crawford County
Five-year precipitation average: 57 inches
Precipitation over the past year: 50.61 inches (#80 rainiest year since 1895)
Precipitation compared to 1901-2000 average: 2.97 inches above norm