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Who has the most average precipitation per year Utah or Arizona? And how much does each state have?
Thanks,
Ryan
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Finding this data isn't easy, no wonder why we get questions on it. Now, we have to remember that when we talk about the dry states we are talking about an average of yearly precipitation across the entire state. So in Utah, that includes Northern Utah where we have significantly more precipitation than locations in the south.
The data for the West is easier to find, so we'll start with that and see what else we stumble on. Utah averages 12.22 inches of precipitation each year (remember, that's the whole state averages including dry areas). Arizona averages 13.59 and Nevada comes in with 9.50 inches a year in average moisture. So Arizona has more precipitation per year on average than the state of Utah.
Phoenix averages 7.66 in of precipitation each year while SLC has 16.18. Compare that to another city like Boston which comes in at 41.51 inches a year of precipitation.
Yearly rainfall data by state is a pain to find, there's a link on the right and I'll keep looking for another one. This one is slightly older so the data is a little off from the above numbers which come from the Western Region Climate Center.
Answered by KSL Meteorologist Dina Freedman.
