Topband: rain and topband conditions in tucson

[PACER99 at aol.com]

Hi all,
 
Last night and this morning produced outstanding top band conditions. Three  
new countries in the log. Highlights were:
XT2C who I have not been able to hear before was 579 and worked
VP8/LZ1UQ not heard before was worked
JT1ZW worked with 100 watts on 1957khz (no amp at that freq.) 589.
VU7RG LONG PATH worked.
 
The best three days of top band conditions this season were 28 December, 7  
January, and 20 January. I have noted that in each instance the openings were  
proceeded by heavy rain which is quite rare during our winter months. I have  
mentioned the rain abnormality in a previous email and some have suggested 
that  it may be because the noise is lower. That is not the reason owing to the 
fact  that I normally have very little noise at my location thanks to a very 
helpful  electric company.
 
I understand that the rain would have helped with my ground conductivity.  
Don, W7DD has determined that his ground conductivity is 1.5 s/m. This may or  
may not be true. Keep in mind that our soil is sandy but quite densely 
populated  with copper ore. Actually his house is built on one side of a small 
mountain  where the backside is an active copper mine. My location is in the flood 
plain  of another copper ore mountain. The water table is 600 feet below the 
ground  level.
 
Here is the question, other than the soil conductivity increasing after a  
heavy rain, is there any correlation between rain storms and 160 meter band  
conditions?
 
73,
Larry
N7DD