At my place in San Diego County, it began to rain on the night of December 27 and it continued on and off until the sunny skies of today, January 20. That’s three straight weeks; the longest dry stretch in between storms was only four days. But is that unusual?
The total rainfall for the three weeks was 12.1 inches. But is that a lot?
That string of storms compared to others: duration
I’ve been recording the rainfall in my yard since 2014. So while I can’t put this wet period in a deeply historical context, I can see how it compares to the last eight “water” years. (Water years run from October 1 through September 30.) Here are wet periods from past winters that had less than a week of dry days between storms, in chronological order:
2016, December 16-31
2017, January 5-24
2019, February 2-21
2020, March 10-27
2021, December 9-29
So, at 22 days long, this most recent string of storms lasted slightly longer than any in the past eight years.
Is 12.1 inches a lot of rain?
For my area (Ramona), the historical average is 14.65 inches of rain per year, according to the National Weather Service (years 1991-2020). But my specific location gets a bit more rain in any given year than the location of the NWS station, and the recordings I’ve made in my yard over the past eight years show an average of 16.44 inches.
With this in mind, 12.1 inches accounts for about three-quarters of that average for the year for my yard. This was accumulated in only three weeks (out of 52 in a year). That sounds like a lot.
How does it compare to those other wet periods from previous years?
2016, December 16-31: total rainfall 6.05 inches.
2017, January 5-24: total rainfall 8.95 inches.
2019, February 2-21: total rainfall 10.8 inches.
2020, March 10-27: total rainfall 6.3 inches.
2021, December 9-29: total rainfall 6.5 inches.
A couple of the wet periods from other years accounted for half or more of a year’s total average too. But this year’s 12.1 inches is the most in volume since 2014.
In summary, this recent string of storms lasted slightly longer and dropped more rain on my yard than any wet period of the past eight years. What a soaking.
Even though your yard may have received somewhat more or less rain than mine, I imagine that if you are in Southern California the patterns have been similar.
Effects on the food garden
What have been the consequences of this string of storms on my vegetable garden and fruit trees? At this time, it appears that they have been almost entirely positive.
The only problems caused by the three weeks of rain has been with a few of my potted plants. For example, the pineapples look yellow and sickly; they are not suited for such lengthy cold and wet periods. I should have brought them under an eave or into the garage for protection.
How has this string of storms treated you and your yard?
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Hi Greg,
You asked about favorite tomatoes. My favorites are Bronze Torch (an amazing new grape tomato) and Paul Robeson (a delicious black).
Thanks, Ellen. Bronze Torch looks very attractive. I haven’t tried Paul Robeson in many years. It didn’t produce well for me in the past, but that was in another location so maybe it’s time to try again.
Here southwest of you about 12 miles, we have 15″ so far this season. Nice!
Hi Greg,
Great post on the recent rains.
In my area in southern SD County, the rain was definitely more than my garden has received in the past 6 years in this timeframe. It has been great for my water bill, but my growing areas were waterlogged.
Due to my soil, I grow in raised beds and containers (buckets and pots). Thankfully, I have plants growing in double-stacked (17-21″ high) beds, so the water could drain below plant roots. My standard (9-11″ high) beds were saturated, so I am delaying planting for another week.
For the first time, I have an aphid infestation – so far, only on my broccoli plants (in 5gal buckets). I read your post from several years back on this topic. Any updates or new recommendations to get rid of the pests while also saving my plants?
Thanks
My tomato methods are different than most, mostly out of necessity. My yard is home to many pests and pestilences. I need all the antidotes in the seeds where possible. Know that I have a Survival Seed Bank, sealed with many of the old favorite garden seeds. But for my present plot, I choose the flavor and production of Celebrity and Better Boy plants. I also have a small 8′ X 8′ Harbor Freight green house with both heat and grow lights. It has 3 sides with raised beds with galvanized aviary wire beneath to keep the gophers and ground squirrels out. I started my tomato seeds back in the late Fall of 22 heat wave. They are now planted in the greenhouse and are about 3′ tall. Some are flowering, and one has a few small mators on it.
Hi David,
Sounds like a good set up. So you’ll be ripening your first tomatoes by April, eh? Is this your routine every year?
That’s my regular routine, but it does not always work out like I plan. I’m sorry about getting my posts out of order.
Don’t forget that aphids are planted by black ants. They harvest a honey-like dew from them. So it’s needed to not only get rid of the aphids, but the ants that care for them, too.
the trees loved it and the weeds loved it more!
Right! In between all of my trees are the thickest, greenest, happiest weeds I’ve seen in a long time.
I loved all the rain water for my avocados. We are on a gentle slope in foot hills but since I built a block wall on the downslope all the water stays in yard. My mature fuerte avocado tree will certainly love the water. I just wonder how long till I need to turn on irrigation. I have saved a few large trash cans of water I can empty with a pump and hose when needed. I looked into large storage tanks and they seem to be around $1000 and up. Any ideas for storing more water? A bit of bleach to keep it from going green maybe ?
I don’t know what the total was from Christmas but in that 48 hour period two weekends ago I got 5 1/2 inches. Just before then I finally got a bunch of gutters rerouted to the fish pond and tanks so I dumped a bunch of water into the garden to free up water storage for the upcoming rain. By Sunday everything was full again and water was overflowing everywhere. Also before that rainy weekend I relocated a few stone fruits and when digging I couldn’t go deep enough to find dry dirt. All I can say is that I know for certain things are soaked to more than two feet down (and this was before the big rain). At some point Sunday night things started to flood here so I knew the ground was at a saturation point so can only imagine it must be soaked to four or five feet or more. The area that flooded had to be dug out and it was definitely wet to at least that depth.
48 hours of constant slow but steady rain was one for the record books.
Regarding pineapples, last November I put as many of the potted tropicals as possible into my green house and they’re doing well. Not much is growing but they’re all hanging on well, however, one of the pineapples did flower. I’ll be moving all that stuff back out in a few months.
The wild stinging nettle is out of control so this year will be the first year I actually try it in a dish.
Great to hear from you, Bob. I was wondering how your canyon setup fared.