Rain: A little more. Perhaps the last?

We had two days of rain at the beginning of the week – Monday and Tuesday. I found about 0.80 inches in the rain gauge after the sky cleared. That brings our total for the current rainy season to 25.45 inches at my location in northeast Santa Rosa. That's well below normal, which is about 35 inches annually, and the warm weather we had leading up to that rain apparently has reduced the snowpack in the Sierras to close to zero, which does not bode well for the water situation this summer. I'm hoping we have at least one more big storm before the rainy season ends, but we're already near the end of the season. We'll see....

[Edit: It wasn't the last. A new storm passed through the area on the 11th and 12h of April, dropping about 1.8 inches of new rain, which is very helpful. That brings our total so far to 27.25 inches, but it's still raining on and off today. There will be a little more before this ends.]

Rain: Rain in the third week of December (and beyond)

We've had pretty much steady rain for the past couple of days and more rain is in the forecast until the end of the week. As of today, 22 December, we've had 5.25 inches of new rain since I last reported. That brings our total so far for the 2025-2026 rainy season to 11.50 inches at my location in Santa Rosa. Another three inches or so is expected in the coming days. I'm hoping it will be clear again by Sunday as I'll be doing another Audubon Christmas Bird Count on that day. 

[Edit: We got an additional 1.55 inches of rain last night, the night of 23–24 December. That brings our total at my location in Santa Rosa now to 13.05 inches.]

[Edit: More rain on the night of the 25th–26th, an additional 2.55 inches, for a total of 15.60 inches.]

[Edit: It's been raining steadily for the past few days and it's supposed to rain again tomorrow before we head into a dry spell again. Looking at the rain gauge this morning, we've had 3.6 inches of new rain since I last reported, bringing our total as of January 4 to 19.20 inches.]

[Edit: On January 5 and into the early morning of January 6, we had more rain. Today, January 6, the sun's finally out for the first time in about nine days. I found 1.30 inches of new rain in the rain gauge, bringing our total to 20.50 inches. The forecast says it will now be clear for the coming week at least. Nice to have a break....]

Rain: More mid-November rain

Over the last couple of days we've had more rain. Checking the rain gauge this morning (November 16), I see 1.75 inches of new rain. That brings our total so far for the current rain year to 4.95 inches. 

[Edit: As of November 26 we've had another 1.3 inches of rain on and off bringing the total at my location now to 6.25 inches.]

Rain: Another 1.8 inches in mid-March

In the past couple of days, it's been raining on and off, at times quite hard. Checking the rain gauge this morning during a lull, I see that we've had an additional 1.80 inches at my location in northeastern Santa Rosa. That brings our total for the 2024–2025 rain year to 38.05 inches, somewhat above the historical average, which is about 36 inches a year. 

[More rain. As of the morning of March 18, we've had another 1.00 inches of new precipitation. That brings our total to 39.05 inches.]

[Since last reporting, a bit of drizzle here and there has added 0.20 inches, bring our total now to 39.25 inches (as of March 26) but rain is in the forecast for the next week, so there will almost certainly be more.]

Rain: Early February storms

On February 1 and 2, another atmospheric river has been passing through the area. As of the morning of February 2, there were four inches of new precipitation in the rain gauge at the location I monitor in northeast Santa Rosa. That brings our total for the 2024–2025 rain year to 28.50 inches so far, but it's still raining and more rain is expected tomorrow and the day after. 

[Update: As of the morning of February 4, 3.2 inches of rain had accumulated in the rain gauge, bringing our total so far to 31.70 inches, but the rain is still coming down hard and it's expected to continue raining for the next two or three days.]

[Update: On the morning of February 5, there was another 0.90 inches in the rain gauge, although it cleared up by mid-morning and it has been sunny the rest of the day, a welcome change. More rain is forecast for tomorrow and into the weekend. Our total now is 32.60 inches – approaching our average annual rainfall of around 36 inches already in early February.]

[Update: More rain on February 6 but clear on the 7th and it's supposed to be sunny over the weekend of the 8th and 9th before another storm comes in next week. Since last reporting, we have had another 1.25 inches. That brings our total to 33.85 inches – already a full year's rain.]

Rain: Another 4.2 inches

Since last reporting, we've had another 4.2 inches of new precipitation, mostly between December 26 and December 29. That brings our total for the 2024–2025 rain year to 24.5 inches, which is well ahead of normal for this time of year. Average annual rainfall in Santa Rosa is about 34 inches and we still have about three months to go in the current season.  

Rain: The week of 16 December 2024

In the past few days, we've had rain off and on. Since last reporting, 5.4 inches of new precipitation has accumulated in the rain gauge at my location. That brings our total for the 2024–2025 rainy season to 20.3 inches as of the morning of 18 December. Some stations have reported as much as almost 22 inches. Both are well ahead of normal for this time of the year. Usually we've had about 8.6 inches by this date. Average annual rainfall in Santa Rosa is around 34 inches. It's clear today, but more rain is in the forecast over the upcoming weekend. 

Rain: Start of the 2024–2025 rainy season

We've had light rain so far on three days since the start of October. The precipitation was negligible on the first of these. On October 30 we got about 0.1 inches – not much, but measurable. The first real rain of the season came two days later, on November 1. We got 0.7 inches at my location in northeastern Santa Rosa, which brings our total so far for the year to 0.8 inches. That's not a lot, but already the risk of fire feels lower and I suspect we will get through the fire season without a major incident this year. Hoping for the best – regarding both fire and the election tomorrow.  

Rain: First rain of the 2024-2025 rain season

The forecast called for light rain in the morning of October 12 with a 35% chance of rain. It did rain, but it ended up raining pretty much all day, which was a welcome surprise. The rain was indeed very light – a mist most of the day – but we got maybe a tenth of an inch. I didn't have the rain gauge out yet, but any amount of rain is welcome at this time of the year.  

Rain: Late Spring Storm

A short but intense storm passed through on May 4. On the following (very sunny) day, my rain gauge showed 1.10 inches of new rain at my location in northeast Santa Rosa. It's unusual to get such concentrated showers this late in the rain year, but late rain is welcome. It pushes back fire danger a little and relieves me from having to water the garden for a few days at least. 

I've been a bit lazy about noting rainfall this year. Since last reporting, we have had about three inches of rain I never recorded. That and this new 1.10 inches, a total of 4.10 inches, brings our total for the 2023-2024 rain year to 30.30 inches, which is quite respectable, although below the historical average of about 36 inches. Recently, I've been wondering about that average. I suspect that the average in the past ten years has been lower than that, which suggests this has been a fairly normal rain year relative to what is now normal. 

Rain: More Rain and Wind

On February 4 and 5 we had almost continuous rain accompanied by high winds. Since last reporting, we've had 5.3 inches of new rain. That brings our total at my location so far this rain year to 20.55 inches.

[Edit: Since last reporting, we've had another 0.50 inches. Our total as of February 8 is now 21.05 inches.]

[Edit: Another wave of storms has been passing through since yesterday (February 18) and as of the morning of February 18 another 4.40 inches of new precipitation had accumulated in the rain gauge. That brings our total now to 24.45 inches – and it's still raining.]

[Edit: Today (February 20) it's clear and sunny in Santa Rosa. This is the first clear morning we've had in some time. Checking the rain gauge this morning, I see we've had another 1.75 inches of rain since last reporting. That brings our total so far this season to 26.20 inches.]

Rain: New Precipitation

It's raining this morning, January 13, 2024, a light drizzle. There is 3.55 inches of rain accumulated in the rain gauge, but that's rain from earlier in the month that I haven't yet recorded. Adding that to our last total of 6.90 inches brings the total so far this season to 10.45 inches at my location in northeast Santa Rosa, which is on the low side for this time of year, but it's supposed to rain most of today and there's more rain in the forecast for next weekend. 

Rain: November-December 2023

I've not been diligent in recording rainfall this season. I've a lot to deal with in the past few months, but I note here that we've had rain on and off in the past few weeks, although nothing in the way of a major storm yet. There is 3.80 inches in the rain gauge, which I haven't emptied recently, so that may be fairly accurate (it is raining now, so it will go up). In any case, I'll use it as my starting point recording rainfall going forward for the 2023-2024 rainy season.

Rain: It just keeps coming....

Since last reporting, we've had another 2.75 inches of new rain. Our total as of the afternoon of March 21 stands at 40.85 inches at my location in northeast Santa Rosa, which is well above the historical annual average for the city of about 36 inches. I suspect we've had most of the rain we're going to get this season now, but it's still drizzling out there and is a chance of rain forecast for early next week.

[It rained the night of the 21st again, adding an additional 0.90 inches, bringing the total at my location to 41.75 inches as of the evening of March 22.]

Rain: More rain

We've had another 2.5 inches of new precipitation at my location since last reporting, most of it in a deluge on the very cold night of February 23. That brings our total to 29.65 inches. More rain is in the forecast. 

[As of 1 March, we've had an additional 2.15 inches of new rain. That brings our total so far this rain year to 31.80 inches. As average annual rainfall is about 36 inches in Santa Rosa historically, this is shaping up to be at least an average year, but I suspect we'll go above the average as more rain is forecast in the coming 10 days.]

[Since last reporting, we had another 3.05 inches of rain and then again last night (March 9) we had an additional 2.05 inches. That brings our total now to 36.90 inches, which is very close to the historical average. Between March 9 and March 12 we had more rain, but I lost track of what was in the rain gauge, so now I'm unsure of the total. I emptied out 3.25 inches on the morning of March 13, but I think 2.05 inches of that was already recorded, so I'm guessing we had an additional 1.2 inches, so I'm going to assume the total is now 38.10 inches. More rain is forecast for tonight and into tomorrow.... People are starting to get a little tired of all the rain, but the more we get, the better off we'll be in the long run.] 

Rain: Almost two inches in the past week

We've had rain on and off in the past week, including a heavy downpour early on the morning of December 4 (this morning). This morning there was 1.9 inches in the rain gauge. That's in addition to a little over two inches earlier in the current rain year, which brings our total to just about four inches. 

[More rain overnight and into the morning of December 5 added another 0.65 inches, bringing the total to 4.65 inches.]

[Rain again into the morning of December 6 has added another 0.80 inches, bringing the total at my location now to 5.45 inches.]

[By the morning of 12 December, another 2.90 inches had accumulated. That brings the total to 8.35 inches as of 12 December at my location, but I'm using the newer rain year definition that counts rain from October 1 through the following September 30, My understanding was that there was an older definition of the rain year going from July 1 forward.

Having said that, once source I found says "A water year is defined by hydrologists as the 12-month period that starts Oct. 1 and continues through Sept. 30 the following year. A rainfall year season is defined as the 12-month period beginning July 1 that continues through June 30 of the subsequent year." So, apparently there is a water year and a rainfall year season. Maybe I'm wrong about the definition having been changed. The same source* says 7.46 inches is the historical average for Santa Rosa by this date. So, in any case, it looks like we're a little ahead of usual--which is good.

*Kent's weather at https://www.angelfire.com/80s/kentsweather/]

Rain: A Little More Rain (March 14-15, 2022 and March 27)

We had a little rain in the early morning hours of March 14-15. We got 0.45 inches of new precipitation at my location in northeastern Santa Rosa. That brings our total for the 2021-2022 rain year to 22.45 inches. Every little bit helps, but we are woefully behind normal rainfall levels. By this time of year, we should have had about 34 inches. We got off to an excellent start early in the season, but have had almost no rain (until last night) since early in January save for a couple of tenths of an inch on one day in February. Rain is in the forecast again for Thursday, March 17. Let it rain....

[Edit: The rain predicted for the 17th failed to materialize, but a small storm passed through on March 27. It dropped 0.9 inches of rain at my location, bringing our total now to 23.35 inches--still very low, but better.]

[Edit: On 13 April we got about 0.5 inches of new rain and then it rained overnight and into the early morning or 15-16 April, adding another 0.9inches, for a total of about 1.4 inches since last reporting. That brings our total for the current rain year to 24.75 inches. That's a help, and there is rain in the forecast again for the coming week.]

Rain: More Rain (January 7, 2022)

Since last reporting, there has been rain on and off on a number of days—mostly quite light—but we have had an additional 0.65 inches, which brings our total for the current rain year to 22.00 inches. 

Rain: More Rain—Rain expected on and off all week

It rained overnight (December 21-22) and rain is in the forecast every day into next week. We'll see what materializes, but, so far, as of the morning of December 22, we've had 0.70 inches of new rain since last reporting. That brings our total for the year so far to 17.75 inches.  

[Edit: As predicted, we've had more rain. As of of the morning of December 24, we've had another 2.15 inches of precipitation. That brings our total to 19.90 inches--and it's supposed to rain again on Christmas Day and the day after.]

[Edit: We've had another 1.45 inches since last reporting, so our total now stands at 21.35 inches as of the afternoon of December 28.]

Rain: New Storms in the Second Week of December

 A storm that rolled through mostly on December 14 gave us 2.6 inches of new precipitation. Another storm, supposed to hit in a few hours, will likely give us at least another inch or so. At present, however, as of the morning of December 15, our total for the current rain year is now 15.55 inches. 

[On the evening of December 15, the predicted storm moved through, dropping an additional 1.6 inches of new precipitation. That brings our total for this rain year to 17.05 inches. More rain is in the forecast for next week, but today, December 16 is a sunny day in Santa Rosa.]