After our typical dry summer months, autumn has turned unusually wet in the Lake Almanor Basin.
October and November brought both rain and snow to the area, with very heavy rains arriving the last few days of November.
As a result, the seasonal total precipitation rose to 11.40 inches by the end of November, a figure that is 167 percent of the long-term average for that point in time.
Total precipitation includes the water content of the 10 inches of snow we received in October and the 9 inches in November.
If we experience an average December this year we could anticipate a couple of feet of snowfall and about 5 inches of total precipitation.
December, however, is definitely running above average with the continuing rainfall of three back-to-back storms.
While the Dec. 3 morning’s radar was clear of precipitation returns, signaling the end of several day series of very wet storms, Tuesday, Dec. 4, saw the return of heavy rainfall.
As of Dec. 3 the Prattville monitoring site registered a total of8.52 inches of rainfall during that period.
That figure is considerably more than the average amount received during our wettest month!
Our season total at the moment is 14.74 inches, which is above the average for the end of December. For those who may be curious about the precipitation buildup during the past several days, here’s the breakdown from measurements noted each morning:
1.05 inches from 6 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 28, to 6 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 29.
3.03 inches from 6 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 29, to 6 a.m. Friday, Nov. 30.
1.50 inches from 6 a.m. Friday, Nov. 30, to 6 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 1.
1.94 inches from 6 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 1, to 6 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 2.
There was an additional 1 inch from 6 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 2, until Monday, Dec. 3.
As heavy as the local rainfall was, we certainly were not the area hit the hardest.
Chico, for example, received 9.31 inches during the storm period, and Paradise received 12.04 inches.
As one meteorologist put it, this series was “really juicy.”
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