Remembering the bomb cyclone of November 2024. File photo.

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PREVIOUSLY (2024):

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Once again it is Sept. 30, which is the last day of the of the California water year, which means it’s time to take stock of the year in precipitation that was.

And once again, we rejoice to tell you: It was a wet one! Very wet!

The good people at the National Weather Service office on Woodley Island, who keep the Humboldt coast’s official rain gauge, estimate that we got a full nine inches more rain than what they call the “normal,” or “average,” year.

Nine extra inches amounts to about a 23 percent wetter year than the average!

Here’s how it played out on a day-by day basis:

Flourish logoA Flourish chart

This year, unlike the year before, we built up a lead early, in the fall months — especially November — then kept pace through the winter, with another small surge in the spring.

Overall, this is the third year running that Humboldt has gotten more precipitation than the average year. The three years before that were the dry years — the latest California drought, which drained reservoirs and parched land all around the state. 

What’s next year looking like? Impossible to say on a local level, really. Climate scientists are saying that there’s a better-than-average chance of a weak La Niña pattern forming this fall, but as we wrote last year that doesn’t really tell us a whole lot about what amount of rain we’ll be getting in Humboldt.

In any case: Happy 2026 Water Year, everyone. May it bring blessings to you and your family.