On 4/13/12 10:18 AM, I previously wrote [in part]:
On 4/13/12 9:07 AM, Higgs Boson wrote:
This is an absolutely meaningless message that I feel safe to post
only because I'm among friends (I hope!)

It's April 14. Cold, damp, rain or threatening. In So. Calif
coastal, we have -- or had, before global warming -- several late
spring months that dismay tourists who were expecting fabled Calif.
beach weather. "Gray May" and " June Gloom" are caused by ocean
weather patterns.

Now the damn things seem to have advanced into April. Have to wait
and see. Not that the rain isn't welcome,
since this is basically a desert area. It blossomed/exploded into a
megalopolis (sp?) thanks to the "Chinatown"
importation of water from upstate by Mulholland. Would have been
neat to live here in the 20's and 30's, when the smell of orange
blossoms filled the air, and there was no traffic, and, and, and..
(Yes, of course there were downsides.)

I need to get out into the garden -- plant some more vegs and weed,
weed, weed. Big chicken huddles in the house...

HB

This winter has been really strange.

Then there is rainfall. In California, summer is the dry season; and
winter is the "not so dry" season. Thus, a "rain year" is measured from
October to September. In the prior eight rain years, over 70% of the
rainfall was in the months of December through February. So far, those
months account for only 23% of this year's rainfall. Generally, no
significant rain falls after the beginning of April. The average April
rainfall over the prior eight rain years was only 6% of the year's
total. So far, this April accounts for 11% of the total.

That was this morning. Since then, nearly an inch of rain has fallen.
The current storm brought slightly over 1.5 inches, starting around
1:00am this morning.

Now, the months of December through February account for 19% of this
"rain year's" rainfall (versus an average of over 70% in those three
months). April (not yet half over) now accounts for 27% of the current
year's total. March and April together now account for well over half
the year's total.

Usually, the California Department of Water Resources bases its
prediction of the state's water supply on the amount of precipitation
from October through March. Not this year!!

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary