Driest February On Record For Much Of California (Normally Wettest Month); Small Wildfires Confirmed

[hatrack]

Huge swaths of California experienced its driest February on record, with some northern areas of the state recording zero precipitation for the entire month, according to the National Weather Service. The unusually dry conditions in what is normally one of California’s rainiest months of the year could significantly increase the risk of wildfires across the state.

“California has a fairly restricted rainy season in the winter — between December and March — so we’re highly dependent on what falls during these few core rainy months,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at the University of California, Los Angeles. “This year, it literally could not have been any drier.”

The weather service confirmed Sunday that February was the driest on record for San Francisco, Sacramento and other cities around the Northern Sierra foothills. This region typically receives an average of 8.2 inches of precipitation in February, but last month saw just 0.2 inches.

The previous record was set in 1988, according to the NWS, which has been keeping precipitation records for this area since 1921. A handful of small wildfires have already occurred in northern California over the past two weeks, including a brush fire that broke out in San Bruno Mountain State and County Park over the weekend.

EDIT

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/some-parts-california-had-no-rain-february-are-already-seeing-n1147321

[hunter]

1. This is scary.

We live here. February is not supposed to be like this.