On 9/25/13 12:15 PM, Higgs Boson wrote [in part]:

For the info of those in different areas, this "Mediterranean"
climate is also basically a desert. Rainy season -- in theory --
November - March. Actually inadequate. Dependent on imported water.

I often describe our climate as having a dry season and a not-so-dry
season. There have been 142 consecutive days without measurable rain in
the current "rain year" (October through September). We sometimes go
more than 200 days. On the average, more than 2/3 of our rain falls in
December, January, and February.

In the rain year now ending, we got a total of 5.2 inches (13.2 cm)
measurable rain in my area. In Malibu about 10 miles away, the total
has been 9.1 inches (23.1 cm). In some areas of California, this is a
record-breaking dry rain year; but my local area's recent most dry rain
year was 2006-2007, when only 4.4 inches (11.2 cm) of rain fell. Unlike
then, when a state-wide drought emergency was declared, we started the
current rain year with reservoirs holding above-average amounts of water.

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