BLOUNT COUNTY, Tenn. — On his farm in Blount County, Steve Rutherford records rainy days in his daily diary. Looking back at the last few years of more than four decades of farming, he said it's obvious there are more days of rain than there used to be.
"If it rains for a solid week, you may lose 20 percent of your crop," the strawberry farmer said. "Too much water will cause them to lose their flavor and their sweetness."
Newly released National Weather Service data showed it is not just Rutherford's farm: more rain is falling across East Tennessee.
For the first time in a decade, the NWS updated its 30-year climate averages—and they show an increase in the average annual rainfall in Knoxville of more than 4 inches.
"Maybe not as many days of rainfall, but more rain when it does fall—which can cause problems," explained NWS meteorologist Anthony Cavallucci.
Rain isn't the only change noted in the "new normals."
The average annual temperature increased by around half a degree, and the typical total amount of snowfall fell 1.9 inches.
"Weather is going to be variable on a day-to-day basis, but over a longer period of time we should see less snowfall in the winters and more rainfall as time goes on," Cavallucci said.
That's bad news for farmers like Steve Rutherford, who said too much rain can cause his berries to rot in the field.
"If it did not rain, it’d tickle me to death here in strawberry season," he said.
The NWS averages record the highest increase in monthly average precipitation in April—nearly three-quarters of an inch in the critical growing month.
The average final frost and freeze moved earlier in the year, too. Now the NWS lists them each three days earlier at April 1 and April 14, respectively.
May was the only month with a decrease in average rainfall. Every month but August and November recorded an average temperature increase.
Rutherford said he's taking the changes in stride.
"You simply go on and do what you have to do," he said. "If you lose some berries you lose some berries. And you hope you come out okay."