Dear Western United States drought watchers,
May is normally a mostly (if not totally) dry month. However that definitely wasn't true in 2019!! In the middle of the month we had some impressive storms that once more involved atmospheric rivers:
As a result, we picked up 2.64" (67.1mm) of rain which is a whopping 433% of normal! Here is the graph:
2.64" ultimately isn't that much more rain for the whole year. Still, it did bring us up to 114% of a normal year. I'm not sure what effect the late rains may have on the wildfire situation. It might have a serious downside for seed eating creatures. That much rain after the grasses had gone to seed might result in rotting seeds that normally would be preserved by the dry heat of summer.
Summer does seem to be moving in for good at this point, but the rain was welcome while it lasted.
Cheers, Edouard