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April Showers Bring Some Brighter News: Rainfall Is Now Above Average
A woman walks in the rain with umbrella, facemask and gloves Los Angeles this week. (Frederic J. Brown/ Getty Images)
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The end of a weeklong storm is soon coming to an end, but there's already a silver lining.
It's happened: the last few days of #LArain have catapulted the region into an above-average year for rainfall.
— Aaron Mendelson (@a_mendelson) April 10, 2020
As of today, we're at 103.7% of a normal year's precipitation.
The median year 4/10 is 91.5% pic.twitter.com/uJRhJyEWIz
How much rain has Southern California really received this year? To answer these questions, we have worked with the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in recent years to put our precipitation in context.
This graph above reflects rainfall data from 20 rain gauges around the Los Angeles Basin. These gauges have detailed records stretching back decades and give a picture of how much rain is falling across the region. This year’s rainfall is reflected in the the red line; the blue line represents the median totals.
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The chart tracks rain according to the "water year," which runs from October 1 through September 30.
We have had quite the week of weather across SW CA. Rainfall was at record levels for several locations. It was also very chilly yesterday with a number of record low max temps across the region. Here is a summary of the records across the region. #LARain #LAWeather #SoCal #cawx pic.twitter.com/bGqHlsL4YX
— NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) April 10, 2020
So what has our wet March and April done to our seasonal rainfall? Here's the precipitation percent of average across Calif going back to Oct 1st. Image courtesy of NOAA's Western Region Climate Center. #CAwx #LArain pic.twitter.com/r8jECaQdl3
— NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) April 10, 2020
A look at precipitation percent of normal for the last 30 days. After such a dry January and February, it's been a wet 30 days for most of Calif. Image courtesy of NOAA's Western Region Climate Center. #CAwx #LArain pic.twitter.com/kgMWPVYeT6
— NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) April 10, 2020
So where do things stand?
Forecasters say we're down to a few light showers across the Southland today and snowfall is expected in the mountains through tonight.
Ryan Kittell with the National Weather Service has your weekend overview:
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"We are expecting maybe some clouds to greet people in the morning on Saturday, but definitely warmer conditions from what we saw yesterday {THURS} and today {FRI}. And then by Sunday, maybe a little bit more of a gloomier — more like June gloom type — weather with maybe some drizzle in the area."
Meantime, a winter storm advisory remains in effect for L.A., Riverside and San Bernardino county mountains through 8 p.m. tonight.
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