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: 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 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: 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: 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: 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: Rain!

Rain is on my mind. We've had 7.75 inches of rain so far since the rain we had last week (last Sunday, October 17 we had about half an inch, which was the first rain this rainy season). All the drainage channels in the garden are actively flowing with run-off this afternoon, which I haven't seen here for several years. As  historical annual average rainfall in Santa Rosa is just over 36 inches, we've already had more than 20% of our annual precipitation in the past week (although mostly last night and today). A steady, spread-out pattern of winter precipitation is ideal (because flooding is less likely and we need water as late in the rainy season as possible), but I hope this will go some way toward restoring historically low reservoir levels. At Lake Ralphine recently here in Santa Rosa, you've been able to walk over to the little island by the boathouse—which I've never seen before. I'm guessing the island is already an island again. And it's still coming down.  

[Edit: Checking the rain gauge this morning (Monday, October 25), we appear to have received a total of 9.95 inches in the storm of yesterday and the night before. With that and the rain last week, our total so far for the current rain year (October 1, 2021 through September 30, 2022) is 10.45 inches--which is nearly a third of our annual average rainfall in the past week. Let's hope it continues.]

Rain: A little more rain

Since last reporting, we have had rain on and off, mostly recently yesterday, March 14. We've had 1.70 inches of new rain. That brings our total for the 2020-2021 rain year to 12.00 inches--still very, very low. By this time of year, normal rainfall is usually about 30 inches. Rain is in the forecast again for later this week. We'll see....

[Since writing the above, we've had an additional 0.7 niches or rain, bringing our total for the current rain year to 12.70 inches. The above still applies. We have had very little rain this year. This is the lowest level of rain we've had in the 20 years I've lived in Santa Rosa.]

Rain: A little more rain in early February

In the past week, we had some rain again—a total of 1.15 inches of new precipitation. That brings our total for the current rain year (ending September 30, 2021) to 10.30 inches. By this time of year we should have had well over twice that much. This remains the driest winter I've experienced in the 20 years I've lived in Santa Rosa. 

Rain: End of January Rain

In the past few days, we've had some more rain, although today, January 31 was clear and sunny. Since last reporting, we've had 2.65 inches of new precipitation at my location in northeast Santa Rosa. That brings are total for the 2020-2021 rain year to 8.20 inches--still about ten inches below normal for this time of year. Rain is forecast for tomorrow and the day after (February 1-2). Let it rain, let it rain, let in rain.

[Edit: More rain did come. We've had an additional 0.95 inches since the above was written, bringing our total so far to 9.15 inches. Every bit helps, but we remain further behind normal than I've ever seen before. At this point in the season, we should have had more than twice that amount.]