STOCKTON (KPIX) If you really want to see how dry December has been you have to leave the Bay Area and come out to the Central Valley — to farm country.
We talked first to Ken Vogel who grows fruit trees near Stockton.
“Besides being dry with lack of rain we have some very high temperatures — middle-sixties in December is pretty well unheard of in this area,” Vogel said.
Moisture in the soil protects the tree roots when the weather turns cold.
The reservoirs that supply cities are still full from last year’s heavy precipitation but most growers rely to some degree on yearly rainfall for their livelihoods.
No one is panicking yet about a return to the drought but you can tell they’re a little nervous about how the year is starting out.
“Going into that drought, we figured we’d have one dry year.
Wwell, we got two dry years.
So we are gun-shy,” Vogel said.
Stockton usually gets about 3 1/3 inches of rain in December.