Well now I know I'm not crazy and it has been dry
From Greg Fishel on FB:
NUMBERS, PERCEPTIONS, AND REALITIES
Just a post about how one can use data or parts of data to make any point they so desire. For instance, isn't it perplexing that the period December 1 - February 28 was the second wettest winter on record at RDU, falling only .03" short of achieving first place. Then, along comes climatological Spring, and so far, we are the 8th driest on record, and if we go through Friday without any measurable rain, which is a distinct possibility, we will ascend to second place on the dryness ladder, with 2/3 of climatological spring behind us. Let's say this trend continues through May, and is followed by an unusually dry Summer and an unusually wet Fall. It would be very possible for one to look at the entire year and say "Just another uneventful, average year", while those who look at the year in more detail might say "I swear it rained every day last Winter, and I was so depressed. Then Spring came, and it was very pleasant but my grass started to look a little dry. Then Summer came with heat and a lack of rain, and the farmers really suffered. Finally those tropical systems in the Fall really made a mess of things with flooding." Of course all this is hypothetical, but details do matter. Anyone remember the -9ºF reading at RDU on January 21, 1985? We annihilated the old all-time record low of -2ºF by 7 full degrees, when the mercury plunged to -9ºF that morning. So that was a really cold winter, right? Nope! It was very close to average. Sometimes perception and reality are two entirely different entities. It always helps to verify one's hypothesis.