October was “surprisingly wet” across Northern California, with Sacramento getting four times its usual rainfall for the month, says the The Mercury News. “Meteorologists stress that it’s only the very beginning of California’s rainy season, so there are no guarantees that a wet October will bring a wet November, December, January or February.”
California faces the sixth year of drought so rainfall, especially heavy rainfall, is welcome. “This is a very good start of the water year,” said Doug Carlson, of the California Department of Water Resources. So far, the rain has soaked into dry soils rather than running downstream into big reservoirs in northern California that provide water to millions of Californians and to farmers in the Central Valley.
“Perhaps most encouraging,” said the Mercury. “Since 1921, there have been 14 particularly wet Octobers in which 6 inches or more fell on average over the eight-station Northern Sierra area. And in 10 of those years, the year ended wet, with more rainfall than the 50-inch historic average.” At present, 61 percent of California is in “severe” drought, according to the Drought Monitor. “Most water experts say it would take a very wet winter all across the state — or perhaps two wet years — to end the drought statewide.”