The Savannah River Basin sputtered its way through September but somehow still landed close to par. This feat seems even more astonishing – if watching rain gauges can be considered astonishing – when you consider the entire basin collected more than one third of its monthly average rainfall on a single day, Sept. 25.
The rest of the month was a different story.
Hartwell, which received 4 inches 
last month (84 percent of its average, 4.7 inches), received less than 1/10th of an inch for 23 of September’s 30 days. One tenth of an inch is like a toddler’s spittle and probably just as annoying if you’re counting on rain.
Russell and Thurmond weren’t much better; they had 8 and 7 days, respectively, out of 30 where the total rainfall exceeded 1/10th of an inch in a 24-hour period.
Click here to see the hourly data for the sub-basins in September.
Both fared better than Hartwell with respect to their averages (Russell received 3.4 of its 3.7-inch average, while Thurmond got 3.7 inches – just over its average of 3.6).
And after all the hard work of collecting every little drop in September, Hurricane Joaquin and an associated low-pressure system brought a windfall of rain in October.
In fact, the storm delivered an average of more than 5 inches across the sub-basins, which was almost enough to bring the basin out of Drought Level 1. Almost.
When taken in context, two forces came together and in four days ameliorated a deficit for the Savannah River Basin – just in time for the new fiscal year.
– See more at: http://balancingthebasin.armylive.dodlive.mil/2015/10/09/local-weather-systems-in-tune-with-fiscal-calendar/#more-2193