California
Maps show areas of California where rainfall totals have surged above average
Storms and atmospheric rivers have completely drenched California this winter, inflicting destruction to highways and disastrous floods. However some components of the state, together with the Japanese Sierra, Central Valley and the Southern California coast, have been hit a lot tougher than others.
These areas have acquired greater than 1.5 instances a typical 12 months’s price of rain, in keeping with the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s local weather station information. Stockton and Merced, for instance, have already acquired 160% of a standard 12 months’s rainfall. Los Angeles has acquired over 180%.
By March 22, most of this subset of 52 observing stations throughout California have effectively surpassed their common rainfall totals for a whole 12 months. That’s up from round 60% at first of March, in keeping with the NOAA information supplied by meteorologist Jan Null.
In Bishop, within the Japanese Sierra, greater than 13 inches of rain was recorded from July 1, 2022 via March 22, 2023. That’s 283% of the conventional rainfall for a complete 12 months, or 4.84 inches.
As compared, downtown San Francisco has seen 31.42 inches of rain, or 137% of regular for a whole 12 months. And whereas that quantity of rain is spectacular, the quantity of rain to this point this 12 months continues to be far lower than the wettest years, in keeping with Null’s data, which stretch again to 1849.
“To get into the highest 10, you’ll want to get greater than 35 inches,” the Golden Gate Climate Providers meteorologist stated. San Francisco’s wettest rainfall 12 months, measured from July 1 via the next June 30, was from 1861-62. That interval included the Nice Flood of 1862 and registered a staggering 49.27 inches.
When it comes to whole precipitation to this point this rainfall 12 months, counties on the Northern California coast acquired a number of the highest quantities within the state, in keeping with abstract information from the Nationwide Facilities for Environmental Info. However these values, which embody each rain and snow, had been comparatively regular for the area.
The county-level evaluation makes use of info from a number of stations and calculates a mean to supply an image of what occurred over a broader space. However it comes with caveats, Null stated: A single quantity doesn’t totally seize what occurred throughout a whole county, given the microclimates that may produce dramatically completely different climate, even within the span of some miles.
The Central and Southern Sierra additionally recorded massive quantities of precipitation, largely due to atmospheric rivers which have fueled torrential storms all winter. El Dorado County, which borders the south shore of Lake Tahoe, acquired 50 inches of precipitation.
All of the rain has helped replenish the state’s parched landscapes, with a lot of California now not in drought, in keeping with the U.S. Drought Monitor.
However even for a pluviophile — one who loves rain — like Null, it’s been numerous moist climate. “I’m prepared for a respite,” he stated.
Attain Jack Lee: jack.lee@sfchronicle.com