A Few Weeks of Winter-Lite
Jan. 29th, 2026 01:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerWe've actually had a mild form of winter the last few weeks out here in the San Francisco Bay Area. While much of the rest of the US has been gripped by bitter cold and a blizzard, out here just over the hills from the Pacific coast we're having sunny days and high temperatures in the mid 60s (18-19° for non-US types). Further south, in Los Angeles, they're enjoying days in the 70s, with some days breaking into the 80s soon!
There's a flip side, though, to having nice-ish weather in the winter. That flip side is drought. Fortunately we're not in trouble... yet. We got a lot of rain in the early part of the season, October through December, before the weather dried out by mid January. Rain gauges across the state are showing 100-150% of normal for season to date... though only about 2/3 of normal for the full season.
If this is "it", if the rains are done for the season already, then I expect we'll face mild drought conditions by the end of summer. But it's unlikely this is "it". While there's no rain in the 10 day forecast I expect we'll get more later in February and into March. Though honestly I'd much rather trade off these sunny days we're getting right now for rain right now, so we can enjoy sunny days drought-free later in the year.
There's a flip side, though, to having nice-ish weather in the winter. That flip side is drought. Fortunately we're not in trouble... yet. We got a lot of rain in the early part of the season, October through December, before the weather dried out by mid January. Rain gauges across the state are showing 100-150% of normal for season to date... though only about 2/3 of normal for the full season.
If this is "it", if the rains are done for the season already, then I expect we'll face mild drought conditions by the end of summer. But it's unlikely this is "it". While there's no rain in the 10 day forecast I expect we'll get more later in February and into March. Though honestly I'd much rather trade off these sunny days we're getting right now for rain right now, so we can enjoy sunny days drought-free later in the year.
