These 3 California Cities Already Received More Than Year's Worth of Rain

An aerial view of the Los Angeles River swollen by storm runoff as a powerful long-duration atmospheric river storm, the second in less than a week, continues to impact Southern California on February 5, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Los Angeles, San Diego and Riverside are three California cities that have already received their annual average rainfall only five months into the water year.

Three California cities have already received more than a year’s worth of rain only five months into the water year, following an abundance of “rivers in the sky.”

The resulting excessive rainfall has battered the state this month, and last year, more than a dozen “atmospheric rivers” helped alleviate the state’s severe drought and replenished many of the state’s reservoirs. But the storms also caused devastating floods and landslides.

“Atmospheric rivers” or “rivers in the sky” are defined as a “long, narrow regions in the atmosphere that transport most of the water vapor outside of the tropics,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

As of early March, Los Angeles, San Diego and Riverside have already received more than one year’s worth of rain. Measurements for the year begin in October, when the water year starts.

Since the start of October, San Diego has received 9.82 inches of rain. Los Angeles has received 18.2 inches, and Riverside has received 9.68 inches. The cities’ annual average rainfall is 9.79 inches , 14 inches and 9.37 inches respectively.

“Ever wonder how much rain falls in your area each year? San Diego and Riverside have seen their annual average rainfall since the start of the water year on October 1st. Per the graphs below, we had slow start but made up for it and then some,” the National Weather Service (NWS) office in San Diego posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday with a graph of the rainfall totals for San Diego and Riverside.

NWS meteorologist Elizabeth Adams told Newsweek that both San Diego and Riverside exceeded their annual average rainfall last year as well, with both cities ending the year with just under 16 inches of rain.

“Last year was a pretty significantly wet year, but before that, we’d have to go back to 2019 and 2020,” Adams said. “That was probably the next wettest.”

Los Angeles also surpassed its average rainfall last year. The city received more than 31 inches of rain for the water year beginning in 2022.

The most recent storm—which hit the Sierra Nevada mountains with heavy snow—brought light rain to San Diego and Riverside over the weekend. Each city picked up around a quarter-inch of rain.

Although the excessive precipitation has raised hopes that California’s water crisis is finally over, it doesn’t come without catastrophe. San Diego battled torrential rain and catastrophic floods in January, when so much rain fell that it swept cars away. The city declared an emergency at that time.

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