N&O kept valuable, accurate account of rain amount deficit to 12/31/07. On 01/01/08, total was deleted and new accounting was begun. Since I am concerned about future water supply (and now carefully conserve it), I keep my own running total of deficit and estmate that we still have a shortfall of c. 6-7". Is there a way for you to present a similar, more accuate figure to N&O Weather Page?

MIKE MOSS SAYS:    Marion,    We can pass along your suggestion to the folks who run the bulk of the News & Observer weather page, where they are printing rainfall statistics reported by the National Weather Service in daily climate reports that include a "year-to-date" rainfall total that resets on january 1st each new calendar year.  As a side note, those of us here in the WeatherCenter have a partnership with the N&O for the weather page, but we only provide the forecast information and the question and answer material found along the left-hand side of the page (directly underneath Greg's picture) while the N&O works with a company called "Weather Underground" for the remainder of their content.

If you are interested in keeping track of precipitation totals and how they compare to "normal" over varying time frames, including year-to-date, a one year rolling window, and a graph that extends back to the beginning of 2007, see the "RDU Rainfall Charts" link at our "Almanac" page. The Almanac can be found by clicking the almanac link at the top of our main weather page, or the direct address is

http://www.wral.com/weather/almanac/