One wet night gives Modesto a much-needed rainfall boost. But what’s ahead?

In just 13 hours Sunday evening through Monday morning, Modesto got more than two and a half times the rain it received the first half of the month.

The Modesto Irrigation District recorded 0.73 inches Sunday and 0.46 inches Monday. Of that 1.19 inches total, a quarter-inch fell just in the 9 p.m. hour Sunday.

Until that day, rain in Modesto this month totaled just 0.43 inches, MID reported.

The historic average December rainfall for Modesto is 2.10 inches, though, and the chances of making that this year look gloomy. As in sunny. As in too few days with rain in the forecast.

The National Weather Service seven-day forecast for the Modesto area shows zero rain until Sunday. Every day is either mostly sunny or partly cloudy, with high temperatures between 58 and 60.

And outside of Sunday, the Accuweather extended forecast for the area doesn’t include any more rainy days.

The rain Sunday and Monday brings the season total for Modesto to 3.44 inches, MID reported. The season is July 1 through June 30. Based on historical records, the average seasonal rainfall through December is 4.31 inches.

In the plus column, the Sierra Nevada snowpack is more than 100 percent of normal for this time of year, thanks to heavy storms from late November into early December.

According to the most recent snow surveys, the snowpack stood at 106 percent of normal across the state, the Los Angeles Times reported last week. The central Sierra, from Tahoe to Yosemite, was at 113 percent of average, and the south Sierra was at 125 percent.

The snowpack provides about one-third of the state’s fresh water annually, according to experts.

This story was originally published December 17, 2018 at 4:37 PM.