A “powerful” storm was expected to hit the region late Wednesday through Friday, according to the National Weather Service.
The weather service put out an advisory regarding the forecast for a storm headed toward the Bay Area off the Pacific coast. The weather service advisory warns of possible flooding, trees down, mudslides, travel delays and snow in the high Sierra Mountains.
A total of 3.08 inches of rain have hit Hollister so far during this rainy year that started in July, said Diana Henderson, a forecaster for the San Francisco/Monterey Bay Area office of the National Weather Service. That’s about 23 percent of the normal amount of 13.61 inches expected during the rain season, she said.
“So far, the rainfall we’ve had is a very good start in the right direction. We’re still in a drought. It was three years in the making,” said Steve Anderson, a forecaster for the San Francisco/Monterey Bay Area office of the National Weather Service, who spoke with the Free Lance last week. “It will take more than one storm to get out.”
The rain is a welcome change for many farmers and ranchers who watched Hollister wrap up its driest year on record in January 2014. Although so-called rain years are recorded from July 1 through June each year, the weather service database records historical totals by calendar year.
Last year, 4.39 inches of precipitation were recorded in Hollister, an amount that wasn’t even close to the next-lowest yearly total on record of 6.87 inches in 1989, according to Henderson in a January interview.
Shawn Novack, the water conservation program manager for the Water Resources Association of San Benito County, agrees a few storms won’t pull the state out of the drought. The water basin needs to get recharged and snow needs to pack up in the Sierras, he said.
“I want to really impress upon people that although the rain is welcome, we’ve got a long way to go—a long way to go,” Novack said.
Novack remembers a year when rain poured on the county from September through December, then “turned off liked a faucet.”
“The more water we can conserve, the better we are all the time,” Novack said.
For water conservation tips go to the Water Resources Association of San Benito County website at wrasbc.org. For the most up to date forecast, go to the National Weather Service’s website at: www.wrh.noaa.gov/mtr.
