Photo by Gallagher Goodland
It was a good rain last week. Nearly 2.25 inches of precipitation were recorded at the U.S. Forest Service Keenwild Ranger Station. Since the rain year began on July 1, almost 4.5 inches of rain have fallen there.
Idyllwild and Pine Cove have received about twice the rain recorded at Keenwild. Four inches were recorded at the Idyllwild Fire Station last week for a total of 8.71 inches this rain year. George Tate of Pine Cove has recorded 9.4 inches since July 1, of which 2.7 inches came during last week’s rain.
Through this date in 2013, Idyllwild had recorded 5.89 inches, which was more than the 3.2 inches through December 2012.
Unfortunately, this rain is insufficient to eradicate the current three-year drought. The long-term average cumulative rainfall between July 1 and Nov. 30 is 5.83 inches. For 2014, the Hill cumulative rain through Dec. 4 is about half the average amount through the end of December.
As of Tuesday, more rain is in the forecast for Thursday and Friday.
In 2013, about 6 inches of rain had fallen at Keenwild through early December, but nearly two-thirds came by Oct. 10. For the whole year, 13.61 inches of rain or slightly more than half the long-term average was recorded here.
This storm brought nearly 4 inches of rain to Mt. San Jacinto Peak.
Generally, the Tuesday rainfall was greater than the rain that came Thursday morning, except in the San Jacinto Valley. The Thursday rain caused road closures and mudslides through the area. Florida Avenue was closed much of the morning for several blocks because of flooding.
No flood damage was reported on the Hill, though CalTrans was busy with rock slides and at least one down boulder on mountain highways.
