It’s really not news that February was a rainy month in South Alabama, but rainfall totals show a significant increase over last year’s totals.

Figures released by the Choctawhatchee, Pea and Yellow Rivers Watershed Management Authority Friday showed that 12.28 inches were recorded by river level gauges at the Yellow River last month. That’s 2.51 times the amount of rain that fell there in February of last year.

That brings year-to-date rainfall totals tin the county to 15.80 inches, a full seven inches more than fell locally in the first two months of 2012.

Similar increases were recorded in the other counties of the Choc-Pea Watershed, including Barbour, Coffee, Dale, Geneva, Henry, Houston and Pike.

-Michele Gerlach