Photo by Tom Kluzak
Unlike the 2015-16 El Niño, May flowers are expected to appear as forecasted. The anticipated blossoms will create a rainbow on the Hill, despite the winter temperatures and snow last week.
Last week, the final April showers fell throughout the area, preparing the vegetation for spring. Nearly 0.6 inches fell at the U.S. Forest Service’s Keenwild Fire Station in Mountain Center and about two-thirds of an inch of rain and a quarter-inch of snow landed in Pine Cove, both well shy of the average April precipitation of 2 inches.
Total rainfall from July 1, 2015, through the end of April has been 20 inches at the Keenwild Fire Station. At the Pine Cove weather site, about 4 more inches of rain has been recorded for a total of 24.1 inches.
This is the most rain to fall on the Hill since 2011 and the second-greatest season in the past decade.
Both are less than the long-term average rainfall of 24.8 inches through the end of April. The May average precipitation has been 0.75 inches.
