Record Rainfall in my Little Town

It's been a rainy night. At 1:00PM this afternoon, I've recorded 2.05 inches from a storm that began yesterday evening. Added to the 0.48 inches a few weeks back, we've had 2.53 inches in the month of October. This is 0.01 inches short of the record for the month in my data that goes back to 1991. And we have one more powerful storm due to arrive Sunday (during my scheduled field trip, of course...). We will break the record for October.

Source: NWS Sacramento

This would seem like great news in regards to the drought that has afflicted California since 2011, but such thinking would most definitely be premature. As one can see in the flooding advisory above, the most intense part of this storm is centered right over our area, and other areas may not be receiving as much precipitation. In addition, this storm may not reflect a changed pattern. At least some of the additional moisture was captured from the remnants of a tropical storm, and that sort of thing won't be happening as the winter intensifies. Long range forecasts are not particularly promising for Southern California and the Southwest (below).

Still, there has been rain across the state this week, and I'd rather see rain falling rather than continued dry conditions. It's a start when you can have a fifth of a year's normal rainfall in the bank before November arrives.