Portales has wettest year since 1941

Portales’ rainfall stayed constant throughout the year and when farmers and city residents turned the calendar to 2005, they said goodbye to the area’s wettest year since 1941.

According to meteorologist James Kratzer of Cannon Air Force Base, Portales as a city has seen 26.83 inches of precipitation up thru the first week of December.

“This year for Portales is a lot wetter than normal and well above normal for precipitation,” said Kratzer.

Kratzer added that 2004 was the second wettest year on record since records started being kept in 1914. The highest year for rainfall was 1941, when the area received 44.1 inches.

With those rains comes many drivers’ worst nightmare — a pot hole right in the middle of the road.

“When moisture gets into the base of the road, it causes it to crack then causing it to break,” says Tom Howell, the city’s public works director. “The streets that you will see with pot holes are ones that do not have good drainage.”

“There is not much to do for a permenent fix except for going out to patch up those holes that do show up on city streets,” Howell said.

The pot holes on city roads, according to Howell, will need a more efficent fix in order to make it permenent — and a dryer year to allow road crews to do the work.