Wednesday January 15, 2025
NBC San Diego —
San Diego County is experiencing the driest start to the water year in recorded history, according to meteorologists, but some climatologists are hopeful that a La Niña could mean rain on the horizon.
The meteorological water year — the “rainy season” — starts on Oct. 1 and, so far, San Diego County has only received a little over a tenth of an inch of rain, leaving a rain deficit of almost four inches.
As a result, moisture in vegetation, both in living and dead plants, is at critically dry levels, making them far more flammable in the event of wildfires.
“So the longer we go into January, the worse it gets, right? And now we have fallen into first place,” National Weather Service Meteorologist Alex Tardy said. “So we’ve never seen a time since 1860 that has started off our rainy season, or the winter or the water year this dry.”
The water year runs from October 1st to September 30 with the wettest months typically being January and February.