{"id":6018,"date":"2010-05-20T10:20:58","date_gmt":"2010-05-20T18:20:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?p=6018"},"modified":"2010-05-20T10:20:58","modified_gmt":"2010-05-20T18:20:58","slug":"the-rain-in-may-falls-mainly-near-the-mean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2010\/05\/20\/the-rain-in-may-falls-mainly-near-the-mean\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rain in May Falls Mainly Near the Mean"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Rainbow
Rainbow following late spring rains in Vallejo. Photo: Craig Miller<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Just a passing admonishment from meteorologist Jan Null, who keeps meticulous, often eye-opening records of weather patterns in northern California: We can stop talking about the “unusual weather” we’ve been having.<\/p>\n

In California’s Mediterranean climate<\/a>, precipitation tapers off to virtually nothing between June and October. So any rain this close to the end of “the rainy season” tends to create some buzz.<\/p>\n

But Null, a former forecaster with the National Weather Service and founder of his own weather consulting firm<\/a>, pointed out in an email this week that “the amount and number of days (with rain) so far in May are right near the 30-year normals for San Francisco and San Jose.” Null confirmed for me this morning that:<\/p>\n

“So far in May, San Francisco has had three days of rain for a total of 0.44 inches. \u00a0The May normal is 3.3 days of rain for a total of 0.54 inches. \u00a0Last year, there were 5 days of rain for a total of 0.80 inches. \u00a0Even if there is a little more rain (this week), it will be pretty close to a normal May.<\/p>\n

Similarly in San Jose the normal is 0.44 inches in 3.0 days. So far in May 2010 there have been three days of rain totaling 0.19 inches. \u00a0Last year San Jose had 0.09 inches over three days.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

By George, I think we’ve got it.<\/p>\n

The Bay Area’s weather has been unusually cool, however. Null says the April-May period could end with “dramatic cool averages.” He says average daily highs for the two months could be “on the order of three to five degrees below normal.”<\/p>\n

Null regularly updates local weather statistics<\/a> on his website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yes, it’s May and yes, it’s still raining in parts of California. And no, it’s not all that weird, as it turns out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":221,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[131,445,669],"coauthors":[],"series":[],"affiliates":[],"programs":[],"collections":[],"interests":[],"class_list":["post-6018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-water","tag-coastal","tag-precipitation","tag-weather"],"acf":{"template_type":"standard","featured_image_type":"standard","is_audio_post":false},"yoast_head":"\nThe Rain in May Falls Mainly Near the Mean | Climate Watch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2010\/05\/20\/the-rain-in-may-falls-mainly-near-the-mean\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Rain in May Falls Mainly Near the Mean | Climate Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Yes, it's May and yes, it's still raining in parts of California. 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