January Rains

I'm surprised to learn that 4.76 inches have fallen in Sacramento since the beginning of January. At SMF, the closest station to my house, 4.02 inches have fallen, bringing the water year there starting Oct. 1st to 9.41 inches. A significant amount of rain, but well-distributed, so no grave inconvenience.

Now, if this was Australia, all this rain would have fallen on one afternoon. Semi-tropical places are like that, somehow: no rain, for eons, then massive flooding. So, thank goodness we are in the equable mid-latitudes!

And so far, for the all-important Northern Sierras (pink line), we are about as close to normal as it's possible to get.

Three cheers for even more rain to fall!

The drought in the American West is starting to ease a bit. Instead of Arizona being abysmal, now it's just awful. I hope the Gila Monsters can hold on.....

And there are forecasts for significant amounts of more rain in California in about a week.