For the third consecutive year, March rainfall in the Yachats area was below normal for the past 10 years, according to six rain gauges around the area.

March was also colder than usual.

Rainfall measured at the city of Yachats’ wastewater treatment plant in March was 4.56, for a 2021 total of 24.53 inches. The 10-year average for the city is 10.73 in March.

Three miles east of Yachats along the Yachats River, Jim Adler measured 7.46 inches for March and 37.76 for the year. Adler said it was the fourth lowest monthly measurement in the 13 years he has been keeping records, but three of those lowest have occurred the past three years.

Adam Altson, who has a manual gauge near the city’s wastewater treatment plant measured 6.45 inches of rain in March and 33.74 inches so far this year, nine inches more than the city’s automatic gauge.

Altson also keeps track of temperatures, and said March was colder than normal.

“I think it was a little cooler than average,” he said. “But it felt much colder because the rest of the winter had been so much warmer than usual, especially December and January. This was the first March since I’ve had a station here (October 2013 ) that we did not reach 60 degrees at least once.”

Donald Tucker, who has a station two miles north of Yachats, measured 5.83 inches in March, also his fourth lowest total in the past 10 years. His 2021 total is 30.15 inches.