Four damp days can’t erase a rainfall deficit more than four months in the making.

But they can put a pretty fair smudge on it.

Wednesday through Saturday was by far the wettest stretch of 2016, with 0.71 of an inch of rain pouring into the gauge at the Baker City Airport.

That was almost exactly twice as much rain as fell during the first 17 days of May.

And the four-day deluge also nearly doubled the rainfall totals for each of the four preceding months. All four of those months was much drier than average.

At the start of May the yearly rain total was 60 percent below average.

Last week’s heavy rain pushed the May total to 1.07, about average for this point of the month.

May on average is the wettest month in Baker City, at 1.46 inches per month.

June ranks second, with an average of 1.31 inches. Spring rains are a vital source of water for the county’s farms and ranches.

MAY’S RAINFALL REVERSAL

May 18-21

0.71 inches

May 1-17

0.36 inches

APRIL

0.35 inches (avg. 0.82)

MARCH

0.32 inches (avg. 0.80)

FEBRUARY

0.21 inches (avg. 0.62)

JANUARY

0.39 inches (avg. 0.87)