Why doesn't it normally rain during California's fire season?
It could be the third-latest start to the state's wet season on record.
By
John Roach, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Nov 18, 2019 11:16 PM EST
A firefighter passes a burning home as the Hillside fire burns in San Bernardino, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Southern California could see something this week that it hasn’t seen in a long time: rain.
AccuWeather is forecasting that a storm will continue to bring rain across much of the southwestern United States, bringing an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 6 inches. The storm is one of the first to come to the Southwest in several months.
Prior to the storm, Los Angeles had only had one day (Nov. 2) with a trace of precipitation since Oct. 1. The “wet season,” which begins in California in October and runs into March, was delayed this year for the southern half of California. Some areas in Southern California may see enough rain to officially declare the end of the fire season.
Rain arrived in Fresno on Wednesday, making it the third-latest start to the wet season on record.
“Typically, we have seen storms come down during the middle or latter part of October and at least bring some precipitation. But that has not happened,” said AccuWeather senior meteorologist Dan Kottlowski. “We’ve already gone through the middle of November with no rainfall, which is highly unusual.”
The latest start to the season in Fresno was Dec. 11, 1995 and the second-latest was Nov. 30, 1923. The biggest problem with a late start to the wet season is obvious.
“When they don’t get precipitation, then the fire season becomes more of a problem,” Kottlowski said.
Fortunately for Californians hit by back-to-back terrible fire seasons, 2019 is a below-average year to this point. So far in 2019, a total of more than 250,000 acres have been charred by fires in California, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. While the acreage burned is below the five-year average of 404,368 acres during the same time frame, massive wildfires have threatened communities and forced officials to issue mandatory evacuations on short notice.
So why doesn’t it typically rain in California during the summer months?
“California is a Mediterranean climate,” said AccuWeather Founder and CEO Dr. Joel N. Myers. “There are seasonal rains in California; the rainy season starts in October and lasts until March. The rest of the year is dry in Southern California.”
When the rain comes, it marks the end of the fire season. “Unfortunately, that has not been happening over the last few years,” Kottlowski said. “We’ve had a persistent pattern, which has forced the storm track to stay north and east of California – and that’s been the case this year. As a result, they’ve had no rain at all. Most of California has not seen any rain at all for weeks, maybe months.”
However, California occasionally will experience rain during the fire season. “The only way it precipitates in California during the summer is when tropical moisture comes up from the south and brings isolated thunderstorms into the mountains of Los Angeles even into the central mountains of the Sierra Nevada and even into San Francisco,” Kottlowski said. “It can happen.
“But this year, that did not happen,” he added. “In fact, that’s another thing that’s interesting about this year is we really did not have any large intrusions of tropical moisture into the Southwest U.S. And that was predicted – we thought that would be the case, so we weren’t surprised about that.”
Download the free AccuWeather app to check the forecast in your area. Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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News / Severe Weather
Why doesn't it normally rain during California's fire season?
It could be the third-latest start to the state's wet season on record.
By John Roach, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Nov 18, 2019 11:16 PM EST
A firefighter passes a burning home as the Hillside fire burns in San Bernardino, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Southern California could see something this week that it hasn’t seen in a long time: rain.
AccuWeather is forecasting that a storm will continue to bring rain across much of the southwestern United States, bringing an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 6 inches. The storm is one of the first to come to the Southwest in several months.
Prior to the storm, Los Angeles had only had one day (Nov. 2) with a trace of precipitation since Oct. 1. The “wet season,” which begins in California in October and runs into March, was delayed this year for the southern half of California. Some areas in Southern California may see enough rain to officially declare the end of the fire season.
Rain arrived in Fresno on Wednesday, making it the third-latest start to the wet season on record.
“Typically, we have seen storms come down during the middle or latter part of October and at least bring some precipitation. But that has not happened,” said AccuWeather senior meteorologist Dan Kottlowski. “We’ve already gone through the middle of November with no rainfall, which is highly unusual.”
The latest start to the season in Fresno was Dec. 11, 1995 and the second-latest was Nov. 30, 1923. The biggest problem with a late start to the wet season is obvious.
“When they don’t get precipitation, then the fire season becomes more of a problem,” Kottlowski said.
Fortunately for Californians hit by back-to-back terrible fire seasons, 2019 is a below-average year to this point. So far in 2019, a total of more than 250,000 acres have been charred by fires in California, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. While the acreage burned is below the five-year average of 404,368 acres during the same time frame, massive wildfires have threatened communities and forced officials to issue mandatory evacuations on short notice.
So why doesn’t it typically rain in California during the summer months?
“California is a Mediterranean climate,” said AccuWeather Founder and CEO Dr. Joel N. Myers. “There are seasonal rains in California; the rainy season starts in October and lasts until March. The rest of the year is dry in Southern California.”
When the rain comes, it marks the end of the fire season. “Unfortunately, that has not been happening over the last few years,” Kottlowski said. “We’ve had a persistent pattern, which has forced the storm track to stay north and east of California – and that’s been the case this year. As a result, they’ve had no rain at all. Most of California has not seen any rain at all for weeks, maybe months.”
However, California occasionally will experience rain during the fire season. “The only way it precipitates in California during the summer is when tropical moisture comes up from the south and brings isolated thunderstorms into the mountains of Los Angeles even into the central mountains of the Sierra Nevada and even into San Francisco,” Kottlowski said. “It can happen.
“But this year, that did not happen,” he added. “In fact, that’s another thing that’s interesting about this year is we really did not have any large intrusions of tropical moisture into the Southwest U.S. And that was predicted – we thought that would be the case, so we weren’t surprised about that.”
Download the free AccuWeather app to check the forecast in your area. Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
Report a Typo