Virtually no rain fell this December. You know it's a bad sign. But how bad is it?
http://water.weather.gov/precip/If things were "normal" from this date on, how will things look by summer?
On average, we get 11.5" of rain a year. Based on a "rain year" July 1 to June 30, we average 4.4" by now. Since July 1 only 1.57" of rain has fallen.
If we get our average amount of rain from this date on, we'll end the rain year with 8.69 inches.
Right now, the dry start to the season and prevailing La Nina aren't enough to believe the rest of the rain year won't be "normal."
A rain year of 8.59" is below-average, but it's still "normal" as some years are wetter than others. It's becomes a problem when an above-average rain year doesn't soon follow to balance things out.
Last year was a good year. The San Luis Reservoir is 95 percent full putting it about 135% of average.
