This past weekend’s El Nino caused storms brought needed rain to the region and as FM89’s Ezra David Romero reports enough fell in the Valley to mark a milestone in California's drought.
It’s rained so much in the Central Valley this winter that for the first time since 2010 Fresno is above average for annual rainfall through the first week of March. HanfordNational Weather ServiceMeteorologist Jim Anderson says that with this recent storm, Fresno is at least an inch and a quarter above average.
ANDERSON: “We are actually at 5.94 [inches]. And that’s the first time we’ve exceeded that monthly normal at Fresno for the last six years.”
He says it’s also rained in Bakersfield more than any other time in this multi-year drought, but not quite enough to break a record.
ANDERSON: “We’re definitely putting a dent in that deficit. However, it would take quite a bit of rainfall to actually get us out of that complete deficit that we’ve been put in for the last four years.”
Anderson expects storms in the forecast to bring even more precipitation, but to cure the state’s long-term water woes he hopes they drop more snow than rain.
