After every shower there is a rainbow.
When this editor was working at the local newspaper, after every rainfall, the late Ted Mackie, who had a bicycle shop on Via de la Paz, would bring the precipitation total to the paper. “People are waiting for this news,” he would joke.
Mackie did have a following, because it turns out some people did like to track the annual rainfall. With a nod to Mackie, we’ll try and keep residents abreast of the rain accumulation, which is measured at a gauge on Radcliffe.
The rain that fell on December 2 and 3 and delayed the George Wolfberg Park at Potrero opening ceremonies, totaled .6 of an inch.
The accumulated total for this rainfall season that starts on July 1 and runs through June 30 is now 3.1 inches of rain. The annual average rainfall for Pacific Palisades is 13.78 inches of rain.
There is a chance for more rain on Sunday.
According to Mackie, the driest cycle was the five years between 1987 and 1991, when Pacific Palisades received less than 10 inches of rain each year. Mackie said the five driest years on record were 1976, 1990, 2007, 2012 and 2014.
The five years with heaviest rainfall accumulation were 1978, 1983, 1995, 1998 and 2006.
Although 2020-21 recorded 4.26 inches of rain, 2006-07, still was the driest year with 4.11 inches of rain.
The most rain recorded in the Palisades since 1942 was 42.60 inches in 1997-1998.
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Jay the Weatherman here. What Mackie has done is great and a real service to science and the Palisades. Keeping such records requires extreme dedication. One note here—-about 5 or so years ago (maybe longer) the County has redefined the Water Year to be October 1 through September 30 of the following year because iIt best represents the meteorological variability and seasonal distribution. That change made comparisons if yearly rainfall more complex.