After two days of on-and-off showers that Central California has not seen months, the rain is coming to a close as of Friday morning.
Precipitation was intense across the state. As of late Thursday morning, radar-estimated rainfall totaled more than half an inch in parts of the San Joaquin Valley and a quarter inch in the Sacramento Valley. By Friday morning, those totals will be slightly higher.
The official Sacramento International Airport total so far is 0.34 inches, which is notably higher than the downtown Sacramento estimate, and would make it the wettest two-day stretch for Sacramento since May 4-5. Meanwhile, Fresno officially recorded at 0.2 inches at the airport, the wettest two-day stretch since April 25-26.
The biggest rain totals came in Southern California and on the Central Coast. Thanks to a line of intense thunderstorms late Wednesday and into Thursday morning, Santa Barbara received more than two inches, with nearby San Luis Obispo clocking in about an inch and a half — its wettest days since Feb. 16-17.
It’s a reminder that the wet season is at our doorstep, and it won’t be long before its taking a giant step into our living room. El Niño is expected to increase precipitation statewide this winter, with the biggest gains likely to arrive in December.
Settling into true fall for the weekend
As the rain departs, with the trough of lower pressure pushing east into Arizona this weekend, temperatures will moderate back to normal by Saturday and Sunday, with typical late October weather lingering into next week with the occasional bout of clouds…