The bias for excess precipitation during this el nino is aimed directly at LA and SD into AZ. You probably will have elevated precipitation, about 10-20% more than normal, but most of the damage will be considerably south of you.

(I'm not a scientist, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night.... Wait... I think I AM a scientist! WTH did I drink last night?!)

Normal being 35" or normal being the whopping teens or even 20s of last year?

Hell, you stayed at a Holiday Inn? We stayed at a DAYS INN last week! URK! Made up for that by staying at Harris Ranch on the way home!

I would think with the droughts and low amounts of rainfall in some places even in normal years, that excess rainfall wouldn't be considered 'damage'. :-] OTOH I've seen flash floods in hilly California on the Weather Channel so I sympathize. Certainly those giant bare areas from the fires are going to become mudslides. :-o

Here in MO they're showing us between the 'warmer and wetter than normal' and 'colder and drier than normal' zones. We're on the bleeding edge between north and south weather patterns anyway, so I'm expecting it to be just more chaotic than normal. 78 degrees on New Years, 2 feet of snow at the end of February, etc. Oh joy.

Don't know what to recommend with your compost. It's not like it goes completely to waste if it gets rained on a little extra.

The hillsides don't have to be bare from fires in order to get landslides. when a slope slides, it can take all the trees and shrubs along with boulders the size of cars down with it.

We're on the flatlands, so maybe all the bare hills will slide down on us! NOT! MILES away! I'm just going to add the compost with the MG seeds to a different bed and start a new compost bin on a different bed or away from the MGs! Nancy

Our Russian River Valley is the fastest rising and ebbing river in the country due to the steep terrain. Oh the floods we've seen! We have a cabin there, well out of the flood area, but live in a flood safe (except local street flooding ) area.