Summary of Rainfall and
El Niño in California

Jan Null, CCM
Revised October 2004

 

Below is a summary of the number of occurrences of varying amounts of rainfall in California sorted by the strength of the El Niño signal.  The amounts are categorized by the Percent of Normal (PON) rainfall for three key cities and for the California Department of Water Resources "8 Station Index" (an average of precipitation totals for Mt. Shasta City, Shasta Dam, Brush Creek, Mineral Ranger Station, Quincy, Sierraville Ranger Station, Blue Canyon and Pacific House).   The classification of El Niño events used here is based on "El Niño & La Niña Years: A Consensus List".

Number of Occurrences by PON Categories

WEAK-MOD

<80% 80-100% 100-120% 120-140% >140%
Eureka 3 3 1 1 1
San Francisco 3 2 1 2 1
Sacramento 4 2 0 1 2
Fresno 3 2 1 1 2
Los Angeles 3 1 1 0 4
8 Station Index 4 0 2 3 0

MODERATE-STRONG

<80% 80-100% 100-120% 120-140% >140%
Eureka 0 1 0 2 0
San Francisco 0 1 0 0 2
Sacramento 1 0 0 1 1
Fresno 1 0 0 0 2
Los Angeles 0 1 0 0 2
8 Station Index 1 0 0 1 1

STRONG

<80% 80-100% 100-120% 120-140% >140%
Eureka 0 2 0 0 2
San Francisco 1 0 0 0 3
Sacramento 1 0 0 0 3
Fresno 1 0 0 1 2
Los Angeles 0 0 0 0 4
8 Station Index 1 0 1 0 2

PON Rainfall by Season*

Category Season EKA SF SAC FAT LA 8SI
weak-mod 1951 122 150 133 127 177 137
1952 120 97 91 88 64 104
1953 109 66 75 81 81 95
1954 86 73 83 94 81 70
1955 120 126 142 122 108 141
1956 94 69 77 75 64 86
mod-strong 1957 126 169 160 173 142 139
1958 84 48 61 63 38 74
1959 89 71 73 73 55 84
1960 114 64 70 63 33 74
1961 75 82 97 104 127 87
1962 113 102 140 106 57 123
weak-mod 1963 97 57 70 62 53 69
1964 105 103 102 102 92 121
strong 1965 83 75 58 56 138 74
1966 114 136 147 137 148 121
1967 73 67 66 66 112 74
1968 122 116 134 210 185 131
weak-mod 1969 99 96 96 83 52 115
1970 124 87 91 78 83 108
1971 102 51 52 49 48 68
strong 1972 90 159 140 127 143 100
1973 137 128 115 95 101 148
1974 103 84 88 70 97 97
1975 87 37 37 75 49 50
weak-mod 1976 45 51 39 69 83 38
weak-mod 1977 93 124 147 166 225 137
1978 64 87 100 97 133 80
1979 98 113 132 109 182 115
1980 76 71 70 75 61 72
1981 125 171 169 101 72 159
strong 1982 153 176 198 215 211 172
1983 125 104 81 69 70 114
1984 91 92 59 72 86 68
1985 100 132 132 135 120 136
1986 72 64 58 85 52 64
mod-strong 1987 83 82 77 74 84 67
1988 90 81 80 80 54 89
1989 69 66 99 86 50 75
1990 65 65 71 89 77 63
weak-mod 1991 57 89 74 101 142 70
weak-mod 1992 112 123 142 151 184 126
weak-mod 1993 76 70 67 75 55 61
mod-strong 1994 133 157 131 174 164 165
1995 115 115 105 99 84 116
1996 130 105 110 109 84 131
strong 1997 151 218 179 184 209 159
1998 129 109 78 64 61 107
1999 94 115 120 118 78 107
2000 59 90 83 96 121 65
2001 105 116 100 64 30 90
2002 140 107 84 89 108 111
2003 101 93 71 67 61 92

* Season = beginning year (i.e., 1997 is Jul 1, 1997 to June 30, 1998)

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