The Choctawhatchee, Pea and Yellow Rivers Watershed Management Authority summed up its monthly rainfall totals report with one sentence in the body of an email: “We need rain.”

The Choc-Pea Authority recorded only 2.4 inches of rain at Yellow River on Hwy. 55 for the entire month of May, compared to 5.08 inches in the same time period there last year. Year-to-date totals are down almost 8 inches from the same period last year. Year to date, 15.24 inches were recorded at that location through May, as compared to 22.84 inches in the same period last year.

Farther upstream, at the Yellow River on Hwy. 84, 2.92 inches of rain was recorded in May, compared to 7.96 inches in Mayr of last year.

Year to date, the Choc-Pea Authority has recorded 17.63 inches of rain there, compared to 25.00 last year.

The average monthly rainfall from all gauges was 2.13 inches in May of 2019, compared to 6.89 inches in 2018.