Over 20 inches of rain fell that season.
But the next five seasons, 2011-2016, had a collective total of 38 inches of rain, averaging only half of the normal annual precipitation each year.
The 20 inches we may receive before the current season ends on Sept. 30, however, can’t bring back those lost birches.
Then came March and April.
March, traditionally, is not as wet as the other winter months.
Instead, March 2017 was drier than even the Marches of the preceding five drought years.
The total Los Angeles rainfall for March 2017 was less than one-tenth of an inch.
In March of the wet year of 2011, 2.42 inches fell in one day!
April isn’t far behind, with only one day of measurable rain, totaling less than one-tenth of an inch.
Despite the lack of rain in late winter and spring in SoCal, the governor made his declaration based on what was a truly outstanding year for precipitation, both rain and snow, in Northern California and the Sierra Nevada.