1.87, or Almost 2.

We saw the rain cut off abruptly yesterday by 11AM. A short period of rain around 5:30 added a few hundredths of an inch, but not much else.  Then, from around 5:30 through 7AM this morning, we received almost 2/10th of an inch.  All told, we are sitting at just under two inches of rain here in town since Friday night.  Not a bad run, and a quite a bit more rain than we saw through the middle of last week.  Before we get into the work week forecast, just wanted to shout out that 86% of the state of California is now completely out of drought conditions, with just about 2% listed as Moderate Drought and the rest Abnormally Dry. Drought is still listed in the far north eastern portion of the state, along with dry conditions. San Diego, along the southern rim of the Salton Sea to the Arizona border is also listed as dry.  We have received more rain since this report, with more on the way.  We continue to move in the right direction.  Perhaps even more important than this surface water designations the fact that the Sierra is holding a ton of snow, a good portion of it well be 6000 feet.  This will mean melt water well into the summer.  If we can luck into a cool a spring, we will be in amazing shape come October.

Emigrant Basin.  Main Street.

We could see some showers during the day Sunday, but they will be light, and not very likely.  Maybe another tenth of an inch could fall by this evening.  We are expecting some clearing tonight, but it won't be a star gazer night.  Moderate cloud cover keeps from dropping to far into the 40s; expect a low of about 48F.  Monday continues will some cloud cover, and is a break in the rain action.  Mid to upper 50s expected.  If we get a bit more sun than forecast, we could see some 60F readings.  Winds are pretty light through this period.  Then the next system to our west begins to push slowly onshore late Monday night.  We could see some light rain before morning, but the storm is not expected to arrive until during the day Tuesday.

Like I said, this one is moving slowly.  It is cut off from the jet, and will need the storm behind it to push it east.  Monday night we will dip into the 40s again, and right back up to the upper 50s for Tuesday.  Showery weather increases during the afternoon on Tuesday.  What is interesting is this storm will be tapping into a sub tropical moisture stream, just like the one we had over the weekend.  This will bring moderate to heavy rains to areas to our south, while the storm center north of us brings moderate rains there.  We are basically going to be surrounded by heavier rains, but here in town, we are only expecting less than a quarter inch during the day Tuesday, and about a quarter inch Tuesday night.  Regardless, it looks like the heaviest rain will come at night.  And it will stay warm, in the 50F overnight.

We are in the green eye of the storm on Tuesday.

Wednesday, the bulk of the storm will be east of us, with some heavy snow in the high Sierra, and moderate rain at Lake Tahoe. Looks like that Fabulous February is over.  We should still plan on showers Wednesday, especially in the morning.  In fact, the showery conditions might not end until late Thursday.  At the very least, we will have high humidity through then.  Day time temps continue in the 50s, with night time lows dropping back into the 40s.  Thursday night we will drop to the low 40s, as the clouds clear out a bit.

The good news is it looks like the showery weather really should clear out of here Friday and even more so for the weekend.  High pressure is planning to set up. Yes, you read that right.  A weak high pressure.  We might even warm back up into the 60s this coming weekend.  And even better news than that, is it might stick around into early next week.  Another storm is coming for California, but the guidance currently suggest it will be hitting SoCal and northern Mexico, keeping us dry.  This is good news for alleviating that Abnormally Dry condition in the very south, and well as letting us dry out a bit.

If you have not started, this is great time to get out and work in the garden.  I keep a winter garden, and just finished a spring planting of peas and carrots.  Even if you only maintain a summer garden, get out there and pull those weeds that are likely growing in your beds, and turn the soil.  It is not too early to start planting seeds.  Even for summer veggies like zucchini or cucumber even.  It can take a while to get these plants established to give a bountiful crop.  It is early March, and it will take 10 or more days to get seedlings, and the good news is the soil will not be drying out for months at this rate.  That means you don't need to get out there and water every day or run the risk of having young plants, with limited root systems die on you.  By the time we see the need for more regular watering, those plants will be mature and able to handle short drier periods.  With some sunshine looking to come our way, soils will warm up, and plants will be growing.  Spring is just around the corner.