Sacramento Only Receives Half Of Normal Rainfall Through First Six Months Of Rain Year

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — With no rain in the forecast until 2016, Sacramento will finish with only just over half of the normal rainfall for December.

Through Dec. 25, Sacramento received 1.85 inches of rain according to the National Weather Service. A brief overnight rain added roughly .03 inches to that total. That would leave Sacramento at 1.88 inches in a month where it should be getting 3.48 inches.

Since the rainfall year began in July, Sacramento has finished below average every month of the way.

In December 2014 alone, Sacramento received 7.63 inches of rain, or double the monthly total and above average for the year to that point, but a dry January, with only .01 inches in what should have been one of the wettest months of the year, meant the drought would extend into a fourth year.

The 7-day forecast for Sacramento appears dry, though the NWS is optimistic about possible rain the following week.

California's rainfall year runs between July 1 and June 30, with the heaviest rain typically falling in December and January.