WESTERN MOUNTAINS –- The western mountains missed the burden of flooding damage and record setting rainfall for the month of March that other parts of New England suffered. Rain did in fact wreck havoc in most of the northeast. President Barack Obama declared a federal emergency on Tuesday, March 30 for the state of R.I. authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate relief efforts. Providence received over 15 inches of rain.

In Massachusetts residents were still recovering from a storm from two weeks ago that dumped as much as 10 inches on the region. A slow-moving storm brought additional devastation as rivers overflowed flooding streets, basements and businesses.

The Portland area saw as much as much as five inches of rainfall at the beginning of last week. Wednesday totals set a record high 11 inches for the month which breaks the record of 9.97 set in March of 1953.

“I would say that it was not an unusual March for us,” said national weather observer Betty Wing of Eustis.

In fact, Wing reported precipitation on the first day of March and nothing again until the 21st. After that it did rain or snow everyday with the exception of March 25, 26 and 27. Wing reported monthly totals of 4.41 inches of rain and 13.6 inches of snow.

Back in 2008, we received 4.47 inches and several times a decade we receive similar amounts. Wing noted that anything less than two inches per month is considered a drought. In terms of record amounts of rain, this area escaped Mother Nature’s soggy ways.

However, Wing reminds us that although last April we received only a trace of snow, the year before that we saw 8.6 inches in April. In April of 2007 Eustis recorded 52.1 inches. Wing also said that 35.6 inches of snow was received in 1996 in the spring month of April.

“The poor man’s fertilizer may still come,” Wing said. “I keep telling people we still could see lots of snow.”