Rain: 0.4 Inches in May (May 7-8, 2016)

Even if El Niño wasn't as spectacular as some had hoped, we've had more rain than last year, and, importantly, more rain much later in the season. Last year, the rain stopped in January. Last night we got 0.4 inches of new rain, which, while not a lot, is not insignificant either. That brings our total at my northern Santa Rosa location to 30.80 inches for the 2015-2016 rain year (October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016). We're unlikely to get much more, as the rains usually stop about now even in a good year, but we're already way ahead of the last couple of years. The overall deficit remains, however, as average annual rainfall in Santa Rosa historically has been around 36 inches.

Rain: Another Half Inch Overnight (April 21-22, 2016)

Rain has been in the forecast for today, Friday, for the past couple of days, but it started early, late on Thursday and it was enough to make a difference. I found 0.55 inches in the rain gauge this morning. It's still drizzling. So far that brings our total for the 2015–2016 rain year to 29.90 inches at my Santa Rosa location. That's still below normal (historically, almost 34 inches by this time of year), but the most rain we've had in three or four years.

[Update: It rained hard again later in the day. By the end of the 22nd we had had 0.90 inches of new rain, this 0.45 inches in addition to the amount reported above. So, the total at my location now stands at 30.35 inches for the 2015-2016 rain year. This may be the last significant rain of the year. If it is, we will end up about six inches below normal but still far ahead of the last couple of years. So, much better in the short term, but not real relief from the long-term drought.]

[Sudden rain again on the night of April 26-27 sounded impressive, but left only 0.05 inches in the rain gauge, raising the total to 30.40 inches.]

Rain: Unexpected Rain Overnight (April 14, 2016)

A sudden downpour woke me last night. I found 0.35 inches of new rain in the rain gauge this morning. Rain hadn't been in the forecast. This new precipitation raises our total for the 2015-2016 rain year to 29.35 inches at my northern Santa Rosa location. While that still leaves us below average, the very fact of appreciable rain this late in the season is a good thing.

Rain: April Showers (April 9, 2016)

More rain. It was beginning to look like rain was over for this year, but we've had a half inch of precipitation overnight and this morning. Before this new rain, our total for the 2015-2016 rain year stood at 28.25 inches at my north Santa Rosa location. The historical average for this date is 32.83 inches. Thus, we are still about 5 inches below normal, but the rain virtually stopped in January last season, so we are miles ahead, even if this is the last rain we get until autumn. Let it rain.

[Update: Further drizzle has left 0.75 inches in the rain gauge this morning (April 10). That brings our total for the current rain year to 29.00 inches at my Santa Rosa location.]

Rain: More Rain (March 20-21, 2016)

It started raining again on March 20, the rain continuing into the following day. By the end of the 21st,  we had 0.80 inches of new precipitation in the rain gauge, which brings the total for the 2015-2016 rain year to 29.10 inches at my location in northeast Santa Rosa. The historical average for Santa Rosa is a little over 36 inches.

Rain: Approaching Normal Levels (March 13, 2016)

More rain in the past two days (March 12-13) has added 1.30 inches to our total for the 2015-2016 rain year. So far, we have had 27.50 inches of rain at my Northeastern Santa Rosa location. Other locations are reporting slightly less than that, but the historical average for March 13 in Santa Rosa is 29.69 inches. This is the closest we've been to normal rainfall in several years. Although the rain this season hasn't been enough to make up the deficit from the past few droughty years, it's a good thing.

[Update: So far, as of 6:00PM on Sunday (March 13), we've had another 0.45 inches, but I'll update the total tomorrow morning, as it's still coming down.]

[Update: On the morning of Monday, March 14, the skies cleared. The forecast for the next few days is for sun, which will be a welcome break. That said, the precipitation has been good. The world is damp and green. A total of 0.75 inches accumulated since last reporting. That brings the total for the 2015-2016 rain year to 28.25 inches at my location--less than two inches below average.]

Rain: More Rain (March 9-10, 2016)

It rained fairly heavily through most of the night last night. This morning I found just over an inch of new rain in the rain gauge. That brings the total for the 2015-2016 rain year at my Northeastern Santa Rosa location to 24.25 inches--and it's still raining. We remain significantly below the historical average in Santa Rosa (28.99 inches for March 10), but we're catching up and every bit helps. Updates to follow, as it's still raining and the forecast is for rain through Sunday--potentially as much as three more inches. Now the threat of flooding looms....

[Update: AS of 3:00PM on March 11, we've had another 1.95 inches of rain. That brings the total to 26.20 inches at my location. This is the closest we've been to normal precipitation in several years. If rain continues as predicted, we may actually catch up.]

Rain: Heavy Rain Added 2.85 inches to our Total (March 5, 2016)

Heavy rain throughout the day on March 5 left 2.85 inches of new rain in the rain gauge the following morning--a very welcome addition. That brings the total at my location to 22.00 inches for the 2015-2016 rain year, which runs from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016. 28.36 inches is the historical average for March 6, so we are still more than 8 inches below normal, but a little more rain is forecast this week. Despite the deficit, we're better off than last year, I'd think, as it pretty much stopped raining completely last year at the end of January. The rain appears to have been fairly variable from place to place. Last time I checked, the official total for Santa Rosa was slightly higher than the total at my location, while the total reported at the website I look at to get the historical totals reports only 19.88 inches as of today. A variation of 1-2 inches even in an area as small as Santa Rosa is not unusual.

[Update: As of 9:30PM on the 6th, we'd had another 0.75 inches, bringing the total to 22.75 inches—and it's still raining.]

[Update: Drizzle and light rain has continued. By today, the morning of March 9, we've had another 0.50 inches of rain, bringing the total at my location to 23.25 inches.]

Rain: A Little More Rain (February 3, 2016)

A little rain last night and today, mostly just drizzle, has added 0.25 inches of rain to our 2015-2016 precipitation total. More rain is on the way. So far, we stand at 19.15 inches at my location.

Rain: Rain Again (February 17-18, 2016)

We had the first new rain today, February 17, since February 2. By afternoon 0.45 inches had accumulated and it was still raining early into the morning of the 18th. The total was 17.65 inches on February 2, which means we are now over 18 inches, but rain is in the forecast for the next day or two.

[Update: By the morning of February 18 (that is, by the time I awoke on the 18th), there was 0.90 inches of new rain in the rain gauge. That brings our 2015-2016 total to 18.55 inches at my location in Santa Rosa, although other stations are reporting somewhat less. The historical average for February 18 in Santa Rosa is 24.53 inches, so, the two-week dry spell that just ended set us back considerably. We are six inches behind normal again. What happened to El Niño?]

[Update: More rain on the night of the 18th and into the 19th added 0.35 inches. So, as of 5:00PM on the 19th, our 2015-2016 total stood at 18.90 inches (at my location; some local media have reported a little over 20 inches.]

Rain: More Rain (January 29, 2016)

A day of drizzle has so far added another 0.45 inches of rain to our annual total—which I will update as soon as the skies clear again. The total before this rain was 17.05 inches. The historical average for this date is 20.10 inches, so we'll still be below average even with this new rain, unless it pours overnight.

[It didn't pour with rain overnight, but I found 0.50 inches in the rain gauge on the morning of the 30th. So, our total is now 17.60 inches at my location—still about three inches below normal.]

[We got 0.05 inches on February 2, and more rain is expected overnight. The total is now at 17.65 inches at my location.]

Rain: Getting There.... (January 19-23, 2016)

Overnight more rain. I found 1.20 inches of new rain in the rain gauge today after the skies cleared. That brings our total for the 2015-2016 rain year to 14.85 inches. The historical average for this day in Santa Rosa is about 18.54 inches, so we are now less than four inches behind normal—a substantial improvement. But the target keeps moving. More rain is predicted over the weekend and next week, however. A couple more good storms and we might actually overtake the average. Normal annual rainfall in the Santa Rosa area is 36.28 inches.

[Update: By the morning of January 23, we had had another 2.2 inches of rain since last reporting. That brings the total to 17.05 inches at my location in Santa Rosa. We're still below the historical average, which is 19.25 inches for January 23, but this is the closest to normal rainfall we've been in a long time.]

Rain: More rain (January 12-18, 2016)

We keep getting new rain--which is great--but the historical average keeps rising, because it's normal to get rain at this time of year. The average for this date in Santa Rosa is a little over 17 inches. Last night we got 0.90 inches of new rain, bringing our total for the 2015-2016 rain year to 11.00 inches--six full inches below normal. We should catch up, if the rains continue this year. Time will tell.

[Update: Overnight on the 14th-15th we got an additional 0.60 inches, bringing the total at my Santa Rosa location now to 11.60 inches.]

[Update: More rain. It rained most of the day on the 17th and overnight into the early morning of the 18th, adding 2.05 inches of new rain. That brings our total to 13.65 inches so far. The historical average for January 18 is 18.35 inches. More rain is predicted for this week.]

Rain: New Rain (January 3-5, 2015)

We've had a little more rain overnight on January 3-4, adding 0.30 inches to our annual total, which now stands at 7.25 inches. I'd been hoping for more than that, but more storms appear to be on the way.

[Update: Heavy rain on the morning of January 5 has so far added another inch of rain and it's still raining. At 8.25 inches as of 11:00AM, we are still well below normal, however, as average rainfall by this date historically has been just under 15 inches.]

[Update: Another 0.95 inches overnight on January 5-6 leaves us now at 9.2 inches for the year. Better, but still well below normal.]

[Update: A further 0.9 inches on January 6 puts the total now at 10.1 inches for the 2015-2016 rain year.]

Rain: December 18-19, December 21-23, 2015

As the title says, we got another 0.6 inches of rain yesterday and into this morning, December 19. The skies have cleared, but more rain is forecast in the coming days. Our 2015-2016 total now stands at 4.90 inches at my location in Santa Rosa. Normal for this date is a little over ten inches, so we remain well below average, but we're catching up a little.

[Update: It rained all day on the 21st and into the morning of the 22nd, adding 1.80 inches of new rain, bringing our total so far this rain year to 6.70 inches at my location. That's good, but we need about four inches more soon to bring us up to normal levels--twice that much to bring even a modicum of longer-term relief. More rain is in the forecast.]

[Update: More rain on the night of December 23 and early morning of Christmas Eve gave us another 0.25 inches, bringing the 2015-2016 total at my location to 6.95 inches.]

Rain: More Rain (December 9-13, 2015)

More rain overnight on the 10th and again on the 11th left 1.00 inches in the rain gauge this morning under clearing skies. That raises our total so far for the 2015-2016 rain year to 3.50 inches at my location in Santa Rosa, California. However, normal rainfall by this time of year is a little more than eight inches, so we are about five inches below normal at the moment. May the rain continue.

[Update: And so it has continued. Overnight on the 12th-13th, we got heavy rain, which added 0.80 inches of new precipitation to our total—which now stands at 4.3 inches. That's still well below normal, but it's an improvement.]

Rain: A Real Downpour (December 3, 2015)

A good downpour started this morning at about 9:30AM. May it last all day--a good two to three inches would be nice. We are already several inches behind normal again. Perhaps this is the start of rains associated with the record-breaking El Niño we keep hearing about. As of 5:00PM, with the skies clearing, we'd had 0.55 inches of new rain, bring our total so far for the 2015-2016 rain year to 1.90 inches.

[Update: Light rain in the following days had added another 0.4 inches by early afternoon on December 6, when 0.95 had accumulated in the rain gauge. As of that date, the 2015-2016 total stands at 2.30 inches at my location--although it's still drizzling.]

[By the time the sky cleared, there was another 0.20 inches in the gauge, for a total of 1.15 inches since the raid started on and on recently. That brings the total as of the afternoon of December 8 to 2.50 inches.]

Rain: Light Rain Overnight (November 23-24, 2015)

Light rains overnight left 0.1 inches in the rain gauge this morning. Not much, but every little bit helps the drought-stressed plants. That brings our total so far for the 2015-2016 rain year (calculated from October 1 2015 through September 30 2016) to 1.35 inches.

Rain: 0.3 Inches Overnight on November 14

It rained last night here in the middle of the night. I didn't hear anything, but I had emptied the rain gauge and this morning there was evidence of rain and 0.3 inches of new precipitation in the rain gauge. That brings our total so far for the 2015-2016 rain year (calculated from October 1 2015 through September 30 2016) to 1.25 inches. That's something, but we're well behind the historical average for November 15, which is 4.05 inches.

Rain: A Little More Rain (November 9, 2015)

We had a little rain overnight and off and on in the morning today. We'd received about 0.3 inches by the end of the day, when things cleared up. That brings our total for the 2015-2016 rain year (October to September) to 0.95 inches so far, which is below the historical average. Waiting for El Niño...