Nowhere near enough rain yet, but at least the snowpack has improved over recent seasons. I took advantage of the soft soil to pull some "super green and happy" grass weeds and plant some new shrubs.

As usual when it rains, weed bonanza. We spent two solid days pulling weeds (we don't use weed killer as most of my "yard" is edibles). Not complaining, though, I'll take pulling weeds if it means I can turn my irrigation off for awhile.

I read somewhere that they changed the dates that they use to measure annual rainfall recently. I can't remember where I read it or I'd link it, but the article said that if you used the old dates to calculate annual rainfall, most of the state would be at right about average.

I don't believe they changed the dates. What you might be seeing is, some news casts will use the calendar year not 7-1, 6-30.

I just heard that in So. CA cloud seeding is taking place. I was surprised.

http://www.scpr.org/news/2016/03/08/58354/cloud-seeding-brings-10-15-percent-more-rain-to-lo/

Yes they did cloud seed in socal and they got lots more damage from wind etc in that area.

I have noticed more weeds also but new Jeffers bottlebrush put in last fall are doing great and are going to flower. I put in Muscari aka Grape Hyacinth many years ago and I have 14 flowers. Usually I just get a few leaves. All my ceanothus are covered in flowers and buds and freesias are already blooming.

I watch the Yosemite webcams and this is highest in about 3 years.

I keep telling mother nature to 'bring it' but she isn't listening...

Southern California is still way below average rainfall levels. The "big" storm that was supposed to come in on March 7th only gave us 1/4 - 1/2 inch of rain.

Its pouring buckets as I write in the bay area. With more and heavier rains coming.

Steady rain in the Sacramento area. The gutters were full and moving quickly. Weeds everywhere.

So you are the one who has our rain! Just kidding, of course.

The storms I'm getting don't amount to much. It poured for a while the other morning, then it stopped and the day cleared up. We are grateful for what we get but mother nature is being stingy.

Roof leak! Rats!

Humboldt County is above the normal rainfall. Of course, the projections made by the weather people tend to be way off--always considerably less than threatened and also wind and flooding far less than they suggest. Kind of difficult to take any of their prognostications seriously. But so glad we have another year of not being in a drought, not a drought in Humboldt County, not last year not this year.

Our seasonal total is under average, just 9", but that's better than the past few years. At least the Sierra snowpack seems to be more substantial than last year.

The past 3 storms we got .3", .25", and .4", a bit under an inch stretched over 8 days. Nice, but not a real soaker. Since you up north got so much, guess we can turn our sprinklers back on. (Just joking!)

Yes the state did change the date of the "season". It was from July to June, now it is from October to September. See the LA Times Article.

Still coming down. I did a lot of weed pulling today. Every yard I pass is full of weeds. It hasn't been warm and dry enough for the water down below to dry out. I guess everyone is waiting for a long dry spell. If I had a camera I would gladly share my mess of a garden. No matter, grateful for the rain!

The bay area from Thursday to Monday got 3.5" of rain. I thought it would never end!

Finally stopped here. Sunday it starts again per the weather people. I love it!

Its raining today after rains last night. The snowpack is 120% of normal. Lake Shasta is 85% filled- before more rain and snowrun off. 24 low elevation lakes that feed norcal are 100% full.

And,when they gave long range temps for March,I counted only 10 days of 65f or more...now it looks like it will be 18 days of 65f or more. Last March it was 23 days of 65 or more. No bad..lots of rain and still 4f above the usual average (62f) for this month.

So Cal is still in exceptional drought. It rained but not nearly enough. Sure would be nice to get one more downpour before summer hits.

Soucal was the one that El Nino was supposed to aim for. The PNW would get the least. Pretty much went reverse and became an average winter north of Point Conception.

Super green and happy and weeds I haven't seen before.

I also have weeds I've never seen before. For the first time I found thistle in my front lawn, then mustard. I think of these as being rural weeds. A few days ago I took a walk and found the pod of Proboscidea on the sidewalk. It is also what I consider a rural weed. For those who have not seen one it is this scary thing.

Devils horns. Although its in a heart shape. Go figure.

Well above our average yearly rainfall here, it is getting old and I wonder how my garlic will do if April and May are wet. We have had downpours the likes of which I cannot remember since the late 90s.

It was near 90F Wednesday. Been near non stop rains since Friday and in the 60's. I swear- no joke- I saw a pair of Mallards happy in a roadside ditch's tiny pond. Like we are a rainforest!

Every source I could find was forcasting 1/4" to 1/2" of rain for Saturday night and Sunday morning. So once again we emptied our rain barrels expecting to get a refill. And once again it did not rain at all (Redondo Beach). Arrrrrrggggggh! Stood up again!

I emptied some of mine and now wish I'd emptied them all, got enough to refill the emptied 55g barrels and half-fill the 100g. Must have rained somewhat hard overnight, as we'd just been getting drizzle up to when I went to bed last night.

Happy good rain yesterday and expected again tomorrow. I'm really posting to see if anyone else in the Sacramento area heard the worlds loudest thunder. I actually thought it was a nearby gas explosion it shook so much. I even thought my windows might shatter. They did rattle hard.

I did put out the Sluggo. I could feed a French army escargot if I caught them all alive. I have shells of dead snails all over. A war zone look.

I never see a dead slug. Those are native aren't they?

I just happened to see on youtube yesterday lots of videos on cooking garden snails in the UK (if I remember right). Ugh.

I honestly don't think I've ever seen a slug here. Could be because they don't crunch and draw your attention to them when you step on them, like snails do, though.

Rained today btw. Sort of a rare treat in that the Cloudforest shrubs- Iochroma,Brugmansia,Wigandia and Piper are in active growth or full bloom on the side of my house. Seeing rains drip off them while they look so green is nice. A med climate rarity.

Late last year they weren't looking so hot-so to speak- from warm and conserved watering. Now?..Cloudforests of Peru to Mexico.

And...rained again!

I must have moved to cloudforest Equador when I wasn't looking.

ugh, I live right on the coast of Northern Cal and once it warms up inland it will be foggy here all day every day for the most part. Does cut down on the need to water as the trees and shrubs do a good job of capturing the moisture and channeling it to their root zones, but it can be oppressive especially after a rainier than usual year.

NOT COMPLAINING, just explaining!

Have been plenty of rain and showers in the forecast this past week but not much action on the coast besides that thunderstorm the beginning of the week which was one of the noisiest I have heard. A friend was driving to Sacramento during the worst of it and he was exhausted by the time they arrived, but so amped he could not sleep.

So Cal got rain! When they forecasted it early in the week I was very skeptical given several past forecasts that came to naught. But this time it rained pretty good. All our rain barrels are full again! I ran around in the rain like a mad man filling every spare trash can and bucket with water. After it stopped raining I even started scooping some of the run off going down the street ( I figured the nastiest stuff had gone by the first fifteen or twenty minutes). I poured it around the trees for a really deep watering ( flooded and let it soak in three or four times).

Forecast is saying a 20% chance again next weekend...but I remain skeptical.

Glad for any rain that fell on any part of California. I'm thankful for cool temps and clouds and low clouds in the morning from the ocean. I'm thankful for snow in the Sierra. Yosemite waterfalls look really good right now if you can get there.