Rain: The last rain of the season, really

I can't remember how many times this year I thought we had seen the last of the rain for the current rainy season only to be proven wrong by another late rain. It happened again. We got 1.05 inches of new rain on May 27 or so, which is very late for rain in this area. That brings our (final?) total for the 2025–2026 rain year to 29.80 inches, which is on the low side – but late rain is good rain as it shortens the summer dry season during which we are vulnerable to wildfires. 

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: 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 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: 2024–2025 rainy season

On November 13 and 14, we had some real rain for the first time so far this rain year. I found 1.3 inches in my rain gauge on the morning of the 15th. That brings our total for the year so far to 2.1 inches. That's not much, but it's a start, and the fire danger feels like it will be remain low for the time being. The photo is of leaves and rain that collected a wheelbarrow in the garden.

[Edit: That was a lot of rain. "Bomb cyclone" and "atmospheric river" were terms we heard a lot in the past few days. As much as 12 inches of rain was predicted for this part of Northern California between November 20 and November 22, and the prediction proved quite accurate. By the morning of the 21st, 9.70 inches had accumulated in my rain gauge (probably somewhat more, as it was overflowing the first time I emptied it), and, on the morning of the 23rd, there was another 2.30 inches, for a total of 12.0 inches in about 48 hours – roughly a third of our total annual rainfall in the past few years in that short amount of time. That brings the total so far this rain year at my location to at least 14.1 inches.]

[Edit: More rain on November 25–26 left an additional 0.8 inches in the rain gauge. That brings our total so far to 14.90 inches. There is now no rain in the forecast for the next ten days.]

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 storms

We've had a number of storms pass through in recent days (today is January 27). I hadn't checked the rain gauge for a few days, but this morning I found 4.8 inches had accumulated. That brings our total for the current rain year so far to 15.25 inches at my location in northeast Santa Rosa. 

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: End-December Rain

Today, 27 December, it's been raining most of the day and the rain continues. So far there's 0.80 inches of new rain in the rain gauge, but it's supposed to continue to rain into tomorrow, at which time I will update our total precipitation so far in the current rain year. 

Rain: New rain in December

In the past few days, mostly December 19 and 20, we have had rain on and off. This morning there was 3.05 inches of new rain in the rain gauge. That brings our total so far for the 2023-2024 rain year to 6.90 inches at my location in northeast Santa Rosa, which seems low for this time of year, but more rain is forecast for next week. 

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: The last of the season?

Since last reporting (but mostly on May 6) we have had yet more rain. Another 1.15 inches has accumulated in the rain gauge since then, but solid rain as late as May is fairly unusual for us and forecasts suggest the rain is mostly behind us for this rain year. That brings our total to 44.70 inches at my location in northeast Santa Rosa, which is substantially above the historical average of about 36 inches in Santa Rosa. I'm hoping the garden will need less supplemental watering than it often does and I expect to be able to completely dry farm the vineyard this year. 

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: Atmospheric rivers, December 2022-January 2023

It's been raining off and on, sometimes quite heavily, for the last 24 hours, starting on the day after Christmas. I was surprised and pleased to find 2.8 inches in the rain gauge on the morning of the 27th. Rain is forecast for much of the coming week. Good news. 

[Today, on the morning of December 30, I found 3.85 inches in the rain gauge, which means we've had an additional 1.05 inches since I reported above. That brings our total for the current rain year to 12.2 inches. It's raining again today and rain is in the forecast for almost the entire coming week. Stay tuned.]

[Since writing the above update, another 2.1 inches has accumulated, bringing our total as of the afternoon of January 3 to 14.3 inches. The real storm is supposed to hit tomorrow. As much as five inches of rain is predicted in some parts of the San Francisco Bay area. More to come....]

[More rain. As of the afternoon of January 6, we have had another 3.05 inches of new precipitation. That brings our total so far to 17.35 inches at my location in northeast Santa Rosa, leaving us now ahead of normal for this date (which is a little over 13 inches). There is rain in the forecast for the next nine days.]

[It just keeps coming.  There was 4.15 inches of new rain in the rain gauge this morning (January 10), bringing the total to 21.50 inches--and it's still raining]

[Yet another update: Since last reporting, we've had another 3.15 inches of new rain at my location. That brings our total to 24.65 inches. More rain is forecast, too.]

[One more. Since the above, we have had another 1.20 inches of new precipitation, bringing our total to 25.85 inches. It's supposed to rain again tomorrow before we get a spell of dry weather.]

[Toward the end of January we had rain off and on again that added 1.30 inches of precipitation at my location, bring the total as of February 12 to 27.15 inches.]

Rain: First rain of the new rain year (2022-2023)

In the past few days we've had rain on and off, the first rain in the 2022-2023 rain year, which goes from October 1, 22 to September 30, 2023. So, far, we've had about 1.5 inches of precipitation. I hadn't set up the rain gauge properly on the first day, so this is something of an estimate, but likely not too far off.

(Edit: Today, November 8, it's been raining off and on all day and there is now over two inches in the rain gauge, with more to come. The moisture is very welcome.]

Rain: September Rain (18-19 September 2022)

We had substantial rain on the night of 18-19 September. While light showers are not uncommon in September here, a real downpour is unusual. This was a proper storm. I hadn't yet had my rain gauge set up at first, so I missed some of the early precipitation but later collected 0.55 inches. I'm guessing the total was around 0.75 inches. As always after the first rain after a long, dry summer, the plants have perked up--and people seem happier too. As the 2022-2023 rain year begins on 1 October, this will count in the 2021-2022 total, which now stands (at my location) at 25.5 inches.

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.