Rain: Late season downpours

Not 20 minutes ago, the sun was out. Raindrops from rain last night were glistening in the bright morning light. Now, the sky is dark again and it's pouring with rain. During the brief lull, I checked the rain gauge, finding 1.50 inches of new precipitation there, which brings our total for this rainy season to 28.75 inches at my location in northeast Santa Rosa. That's still low relative to our average annual rainfall, which is about 36 inches, but rain this late in the season is welcome; the later it rains, the shorter the dry summer interval, which somewhat reduces fire danger. 

It looks like I'll be checking the rain gauge again later today and more rain is in the forecast for tomorrow. 

[Edit: Since posting the above, we've had more rain – most recently, rain overnight on the night of May 4 to May 5. Rain this late in the season is a bit unusual, but welcome; the later we get rain, the shorter the high-risk dry summer season. Checking the rain gauge this morning (May 6), we got another 1.25 inches, which brings our total for the 2025–2026 rain year to 30.00 inches at my location in northeast Santa Rosa.]

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: A week or more of new rain

Today the sun is out for the first time in several days. It's expected to be a short respite before more rain over the next seven or eight days. Checking the rain gauge this morning, we've had 3.00 inches of new rain since I last made a note of precipitation, bringing our total for the 2025-2026 rainy season so far to 23.00 inches, which is on the low side for this time of year. Average annual rainfall for Santa Rosa, California is somewhere around 35 inches. Even if we get another two to three inches in the coming days, we'll be behind where we ought to be. Let's hope for more in the coming week and then for a rainy March. 

[Edit: A few more rainy days since the above post added 1.60 inches of rain to the rain gauge. That brings our total as of March 1 2026 to 24.60 inches.]

[Edit: A bit of rain overnight on March 1 brought our total to 24.65 inches.]

Rain: Another 2.4 inches

This morning, Saturday, February 15, the sun is out but we had another couple of days of intense rain, mostly on the 13th, that added 2.40 inches to our total so far for the 2024–2025 rain year, which now stands at 36.25 inches. As 36 inches or so is the historical annual average, we've had a full year of rain now with another 10 weeks or so of potential rain ahead. 

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: 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: First Substantial Rain of the Season (September 16, 2015)

We had odd mists of rain on a couple of days in July and in August this year--which is extremely unusual--but it was too little to make much of a difference--only 0.10 inches. Yesterday and last night (September 16) we had the first real rain of  the 2015-2016 rain season--0.4 inches in the rain gauge this morning. Let's hope that the start of a heavy rainy season. I hope the rain last night helped the firefighters up north, but I've seen no news. So far, the total for this year stands at 0.5 inches.

Rain: Odd Drizzle

Unusually for this time of year we've had a couple of bursts of rain in the morning or overnight. Welcome, but never enough even to register in the rain gauge more than a trace. The new rain year (the 2015-2016 rain year) began on July 1, 2015. So far, we've had just these traces....

[Update: And a little rain again today, July 9--very unusual for this time of year to have any rain at all. We ended up with 0.10 inches of rain--the first appreciable rain of the new rain year.]

Rain: Heavy Rain (April 24-25, 2015)

On the night of April 24 and into the following morning we had a short but heavy rain that has perked up the plants again--a very welcome turn of events. On the morning of the 25th I found 1.26 inches in the rain gauge--which seems like more than there should have been. The official Santa Rosa rainfall was about 0.4 inches. I'm not sure why we'd have had three times as much, although rain can very quite a lot locally. Alternatively, there may have been some water left in the gauge from a hose that I was unaware of--although that's never happened before. We had had an even 24 inches of rain so far this year before the recent rain. If the gauge is correct, that would bring our local total to 25.26 inches. Using the official Santa Rosa figure would make it 24.40 inches. That is well below normal in either case. In the short term, however, the rain will allow us to leave irrigation turned off for another week or so--which is a good thing.

Rain: Morning Showers and More to Come (April 5-7, 2015)

Early morning rain on the 5th added 0.20 inches to our total for the year. Not much, but better than nothing. The forecast is for possibly rain today (the 6th) and for thunderstorms tomorrow. Let it rain. As of the morning of April 6, our total for the 2014-2015 rain year stands at 23.10 inches, which is about ten inches below normal.

[Update: Overnight and into the morning of April 7, we got heavy rain, but the predicted thunderstorms didn't materialize. Nevertheless, we got an additional--very welcome--0.90 inches of new precipitation at my location (northeast Santa Rosa). That brings the 2014-2015 total here to 24.00 inches. The weather website I monitor for historical data in Santa Rosa is reporting a total of only 21.80 inches. That station has received 0.6 inches of rain so far in the first seven days of April, for example, while I've recorded 1.1 inches during the same period. The historical average for April 6 is 32.67 inches, according to that site. So, we're still 8.67-10.87 inches below average this year. The forecast is still noting the possibility of thunderstorms (and hail) later in the day.]

Rain: Unexpected Overnight Rain (March 21-23, 2015)

We had showers in the early morning hours last night--showers that I don't remember being in the forecast. We got 0.15 inches, which is hardly enough to make much of a difference, but better than nothing. That brings the total for the 2014-2015 rain year (which ends on June 30, 2015) to 22.90 inches at this location (other Santa Rosa locations have reported closer to 21 inches for the season). In either case, that's well below the historical average for this date (March 22), which is 30.88 inches.

[Update: More rain overnight on the March 22 - March 23 gave us an additional 0.25 inches, bringing our total to 23.15 inches.]

Rain: New Storm Brings Long-awaited Rain (February 6-9, 2015)

After a January with virtually no rain, it's good to be in the middle of a substantial storm that's already dropped about an inch and a half of new rain since early in the morning of the 6th. I'll wait until the storm has passed to add to the tally, but predictions range from between three to six inches. Every drop is welcome.

[Update: On the morning of the 7th, I found 2.25 inches in the rain gauge. That brings our total for the 2014-2015 rain year to 21.40 inches. It's clear again now, but more rain is on the way....]

[Update: On the morning of the 9th, there was another 1.35 inches in the rain gauge, bringing the total to 22.75 inches. Average for this date is about 22.5 inches.]

Rain: A Little Drizzle

Drizzle for much of the day on the 16th added 0.1 inches to our total for the current rain year. The total now stands at 19.15 inches at my location.

Rain: Yet more rain (December 15, 2014)

It rained much of last night and most of today (December 15, 2014). There's another 1.1 inches in the rain gauges this afternoon. That brings our total for the 2014-2015 rain year to 16.40 inches--now well above normal, but it's still early and we haven't by any means made up for the drought of the past two years. That said, this is good. Let it keep it up.

[Update: Another 0.2 inches overnight. Our total as of the morning of the 16th was thus 16.6 inches.]

[Update: By the morning of December 18, we had had another 1.25 inches of rain at my location, bringing our total to 17.85 inches. Right now the forecast is for more rain tomorrow and again on Saturday, December 20.]

[Yet another update: As of the evening of the 19th, we had received another 0.85 inches. Total now stands at 18.70 inches.]

[There's more: As of the 21st, we'd added another 0.35 inches. It just keeps raining--which is great. We need it. People are even beginning to get tired of it. Total is now 19.05 inches at my location.]

Rain: Storm Rolling In (December 10, 2014)

A predicted storm has moved into the area and we've had heavy rain now for the past couple of hours. It's supposed to last all night and into the late afternoon tomorrow. So far, we've received 1.25 inches of new precipitation. I emptied the rain gauge to help ensure it doesn't overflow overnight--that would now require six more inches of rain, which seems unlikely. As of 10:00PM on the 10th, our total for the 2014-2015 rain year was 9.45 inches, well above normal, but it's early. It's not unusual to have a lot of rain in December and then to return to droughty conditions later in the season. More tomorrow.

[Update: Checking the rain gauge this morning, we have had another three inches of rain overnight. It's still coming down and moderately strong winds buffeted the house all night, but I've seen worse. As of 7:30AM, December 11, our total for the year had risen to 12.45 inches. More later.]

[Update: Twelve hours later (7:30PM on December 11) we've had another 1.65 inches, bringing the total to 14.10 inches for the rain year--now well above normal for this date, but, again, we'll have to see if this becomes part of a sustained trend or proves to be just a one-off string of storms. In any case, the rain is good. Nobody's complaining about it yet.]

[Update: In a lull now, but we had another 0.85 inches overnight on the 11th and the morning of the 12th. Total now (mid-afternoon on the 12th) stands at 14.95 inches.]

Rain: Another 0.85 inches

Although it was clear today (December 6, 2014), off-and-on rain in the past couple of days has added another 0.85 inches to our annual total. We now stand at 8.20 inches at my location for the 2014-2015 rain year, which is a little more than an inch ahead of normal for this date in Santa Rosa.

Rain: More Rain (December 2, 2014)

More rain overnight and today so far, as predicted. There was a new 0.75 inches in the rain gauge when I checked it this morning, but it's rained more since then. I hope it keeps going. It looks like this  group of storms will at least bring us up to normal for the current rain year, which began on July 1, 2014 and ends on June 30 2015. The average for this date (December 2) historically is 6.02 inches in Santa Rosa. The more the merrier, though, as we have a substantial cumulative deficit from the past couple of years when rainfall was markedly lower than average.

[Update: As of the evening of the 3rd, we had received 1.5 inches of new rain since reporting the 0.75 inches mentioned above, so a total of 2.25 inches of new rain. That brings our total for the year as of today to 7.35 inches--slightly above average now for the first time this rain year.]

Rain: Much Rain in the Forecast

It's been misting all night and, as I looked out my studio window this morning, a brief, full-on downpour began. How long it will last, I don't know, but there's rain in the forecast for the entire coming week--rain we desperately need. I'm hoping to go to the Santa Rosa Farmer's Market this morning, but I'm happy to have the rain. No complaints. Looking a the rain gauge this morning after the skies cleared, we seem to have had 0.85 inches overnight and in the morning. That brings our total for the 2014-2015 rain year to 4.25 inches--still woefully low, but it was good to get nearly an inch, and more is supposed to be on the way.

[Update: We had more rain (an additional 0.5 inches) overnight on the 29th-30th, bringing the total so far this rain year to 4.75 inches. Later on the 30th, more light rain added 0.35 inches, for a total of 5.10 inches this rain year. Clear today (December 1) but more rain is expected in the next three days.]

Rain: Rain Yesterday and Today is Helping a Little (November 20, 2014)

Rain yesterday and continuing today after a short lull is bringing some relief to the landscape. We've accumulated about an inch in the past 24 hours, but it's still coming down--which is a good thing. We are about 8 inches below normal for the year and have a cumulative deficit of something like 30 inches over the past three years, so everything helps. As of 11AM on November 20 we have had 1.25 inches of rain  in the past couple of days, bringing the total at my location so far in the 2014-2015 rain year (which extends from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015) to 2.95 inches.

[Update: More rain on the evening of the 21st and into the morning of the 22nd has added 0.45 inches of rain, bringing the season total now to 3.40 inches--still well below normal, but every little bit helps.]

Rain: Finally a Little Rain (October 25, 2014)

Finally--a little rain. Too little, unfortunately, but at least a momentary downpour. It's been raining on and off all day, actually. I just checked the rain gauge and was pleased to find 0.5 inches there. That brings our total so far for the 2014-2015 rain season to 1.45 inches. It's a start.

[Update: On Friday, the 31st, we had another 0.25 inches, bringing the total to 1.70 inches.]