Sacramento Digs Gardening Article
Your resource for Sacramento-area gardening news, tips and events

Articles Recipe Index Keyword Index Calendar Twitter Facebook Instagram About Us Contact Us

Will Sacramento have a normal rain year?

Holiday storms put averages back on track

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED JAN 1, 2024

Time to empty the rain gauge, before another storm arrives. The Sacramento area has received nearly 6 inches of rain -- and a little more than that in the northern part of the county -- since the Water Year started Oct. 1. Kathy Morrison

Happy New Year! We start this new month sunny, but more rain is coming soon.

And that’s a good thing.

Holiday storms boosted December’s rain total to 4.69 inches in Sacramento – 37% above average for the month.

We needed it. After a relatively dry autumn, our Water Year – which measures the rain we receive from Oct. 1 to Sept 30 – was tracking below normal.

Thanks to that Christmas week rain, our total since Oct. 1 is now 5.65 inches in Downtown Sacramento. Average for that same three months: 5.94 inches.

According to the National Weather Service, more moisture is coming very soon. A new storm system is expected to arrive Tuesday night and drop a half inch to one inch of rain by Wednesday afternoon. Those showers will be followed by more rain on Friday night and Saturday.

That could make for damp conditions for Sacramento’s annual McKinley Park Rose Garden prune-a-thon on Saturday, Jan. 6. Volunteers and city crews are expected to be out pruning Saturday morning, rain or shine.

Such in-and-out storm systems are normal for winter in Sacramento. January is typically among Sacramento’s rainiest months, averaging 3.64 inches.

This rain may seem like a lot, but it’s just a puddle compared to what we experienced this time last year. Sacramento recorded 2.12 inches of rain on New Year’s Eve 2022, topping off 7.79 inches for December 2022.

By comparison, 2024’s rain picture may be starting out just right – not too much, not too little, but enough to give trees a nice, deep soak.

For more updates on Sacramento weather: https://www.weather.gov/sto/.

Comments

0 comments have been posted.

GENERAL GARDENING

An article about gardening.

Keywords:

rain rainfall weather winter January Sacramento gardening storms McKinley Park Rose Garden pruning roses

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Taste Spring! E-cookbook

Find our spring recipes here!

Local News

Thanks to our sponsor!

Sites We Like

Garden Checklist for week of May 19

Temperatures will be a bit higher than normal in the afternoons this week. Take care of chores early in the day – then enjoy the afternoon. It’s time to smell the roses.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. If you haven’t already, it’s time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters.

* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Don’t forget to water. Seedlings need moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants.

* Add mulch to the garden to help keep that precious water from evaporating. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch to 1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.

Taste Summer! E-cookbook

Find our summer recipes here!

Taste Fall! E-cookbook

Find our fall recipes here!

Taste Winter! E-cookbook

Find our winter recipes here!