California 2002-2003
Rainfall Season in Review


Kind of a Normal California Rainfall Season?

Years from now the 2002-2003 rainfall season across California will look fairly "normal" if viewed in its entirety.  However the distribution of rainfall throughout the season has been far from normal.  November 2002 saw an early strong storm system that gave some locations their monthly totals in about a four day period, but them the month went dry.  December saw a rapid turnaround and ended up being very wet with many locations having 2 to 3 times their normal rainfall.  Then first of year brought back the fickleness of California weather when most of the state had prolonged periods of high pressure with below normal totals for January, February and March causing seasonal accumulations to fall below normal.  But an "awesome April" saw enough persistent cool wet weather for much of California to end up with close to 100% of their normal seasonal rainfall despite a mostly dry May and June

San Francisco's rainfall fell into the same pattern with almost 400% of normal in December and nearly 300% in April to finish just above normal for the season.

(Note:  The "rainfall season" is July 1 to June 30.  All data here is preliminary and could vary slightly from NCDC published data.)

 

Key California Cities - Monthly Rainfall and Percent of Normal - July 1, 2002-June 30, 2003

    San Francisco San Jose Sacramento Fresno Los Angeles San Diego
Jul Amount 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
  PON 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Aug Amount 0.03 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
  PON 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Sep Amount 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.31
  PON 4% 0% 0% 0% 0% 148%
Oct Amount 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.04
  PON 1% 0% 0% 0% 0% 9%
Nov Amount 2.00 1.99 2.34 1.77 2.31 0.32
  PON 60% 115% 107% 161% 220% 30%
Dec Amount 12.03 5.91 6.18 2.24 3.33 1.98
  PON 378% 296% 252% 167% 174% 151%
Jan Amount 1.75 0.65 1.26 0.39 0.00 0.02
  PON 37% 21% 33% 18% 0% 1%
Feb Amount 1.80 1.49 1.32 1.45 4.64 4.88
  PON 43% 52% 37% 68% 126% 239%
Mar Amount 1.71 0.74 1.88 0.63 4.31 1.36
  PON 45% 28% 70% 29% 137% 60%
Apr Amount 3.60 3.05 2.53 2.84 0.71 1.41
  PON 288% 299% 248% 374% 86% 188%
May Amount 0.93 0.72 1.17 0.68 1.02 0.30
  PON 172% 164% 221% 175% 329% 150%
Jun Amount 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
  PON 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

 

 

Selected California Cities Rainfall - Percent of Normal - July 1, 2002-June 30, 2003
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California Rainfall - Percent of Normal - July 1, 2002-June 30, 2003
Adin RS 84%
Alturas RS 76%
Angwin 109%
Angwin Pacific Union Col 116%
Ash Mountain 104%
Auberry 2 Nw 85%
Auburn 91%
Bakersfield 91%
Barstow 112%
Bear Trap Meadow 92%
Ben Lomond 103%
Berkeley 112%
Big Bar 119%
Big Bear Lake 67%
Big Sur State Park 84%
Big Sur Station 82%
Bishop 104%
Blue Canyon (DWR-2) 86%
Blythe 47%
Boca 78%
Bodie 59%
Bowman 112%
Bridgeport R S