If you've read my blog for a while, you probably know that I have something of an obsession with water and, more specifically, rain, which we've had precious little of for the last 5 years. According to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Los Angeles had average precipitation of just under 15 inches per year from 1981 through 2010. Last year, my personal weather station recorded a total of 5.65 inches of rain for the season beginning October 1, 2015 and ending September 30, 2016. And last year was an
El Niño year, which was expected to bring higher than average rainfall. As it turned out, that rainfall shifted northward, benefiting Northern California more than Southern California. Many pundits believe this will be a
La Niña year, bringing us below "normal" rain. As last year's forecasts were off, at least as they related to SoCal, I'm hoping for the best but also trying to keep my expectations in check.
That "wait and see" attitude governed my outlook on the forecasts predicting a 40% chance of light rain last weekend. According to one weather agency, the rain expected for my area was on the order of 2 one-hundredths of an inch, which was certainly nothing to get excited about. However, I watched the clouds closely. Saturday, the promise of rain hovered above us, literally.
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| Clouds over the Los Angeles Harbor Saturday afternoon |
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| Clouds at sunset |
Saturday night we got all of one one-hundredth of an inch of rain. Sunday's clouds looked promising at first but less so by the end of the day.
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| Clouds early Sunday morning |
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| By sunset, the clouds in the immediate area had dissipated, leaving this formation, which looked a little like an alien spacecraft and which I offer as my Wednesday Vignette (visit Anna at Flutter & Hum for more photographic vignettes) |
But, wonder of wonders, we got almost 3 tenths of an inch of rain early Monday morning. I slept through most of it but woke to a glistening backyard.
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| Unfortunately, my photo doesn't quite capture the magical sparkle the rain added to the garden |
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| Rainwater droplets on foliage are somehow far more beautiful than the water droplets left behind by an automated irrigation system |
Now, I admit that 0.31 inches of rain, the current total through today, isn't a lot but even a small amount of rain on a roof sheds a considerable amount of water. My previously empty rain barrels aren't empty any more. The 50-gallon tank is full; the 160-gallon tank is half-full; and the 265-gallon tank is at least one-quarter full.
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| You can make out the water line on the 160-gallon tank here (along with the algae I failed to clean up when the tank was empty) |
Now that's a cause for celebration! There was another 40% chance of rain in the forecast for a week from Thursday but it's already disappeared; however, hope springs eternal.
All material © 2012-2016 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
