by Steven Felschundneff | steven@claremont-courier.com

The rainy season that seemed like it would never end has in fact finally concluded, and boy, what a doozy it was.

National Weather Service Los Angeles/Oxnard meteorologist Joe Sirard said his organization doesn’t have an official total for Claremont, but most places in Southern California experienced top 10 record rainfall for the water year, which ran from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023.

According to a remote automatic weather station that is published on the National Weather Service’s website, Claremont received 42.24 inches of rain. Sirard said these remote stations are typically run by agencies such as fire departments to monitor local weather conditions and are not used by the National Weather Service to track the local climate.

Downtown Los Angeles recorded 31.07 inches, which is the seventh highest recorded since 1877. The record for L.A., 38.18 inches, was set in 1883-1884. UCLA reported 40.37 inches. the third highest since 1933, while Woodland Hills reported 36.56, its fifth wettest year since 1949. Of the areas monitored by the NWS, Palmdale Airport was relatively dry with just 10.22 inches but that total still ranked as its 17th highest since 1932.

According to the NWS Climate Prediction Center, El Nino is expected to continue through the northern hemisphere this winter, which increases the odds that Southern California will have another wet rainy season, so keep those umbrellas handy.