Early spring will continue to be somewhat wet in the Modesto area
The Modesto area looks to get a little more rain from early spring storms this week, along with snow in its Sierra Nevada watershed.
The downtown gauge of the Modesto Irrigation District collected 0.18 inches of rain Monday, most of it in a deluge between 4 and 5 p.m.
Tuesday morning and early afternoon were dry, but the National Weather Service forecast a 50 percent chance of rain Tuesday night. Wednesday has a 40 percent chance during daytime and 20 percent at night. Then there’s a 20 percent chance Thursday, dry conditions Friday and a slight chance of rain Saturday.
The MID total is 5.17 inches since the July 1, 2019, start of the rainfall year, which is 42 percent of the historical average.
The snowpack in the central Sierra stood at 53 percent of average as of Tuesday, the California Department of Water Resources reported. It had been at 37 percent following a seven-week dry stretch that ended March 15.
Water storage remains above-average for this time of year thanks to the wet 2019. Don Pedro Reservoir on the Tuolumne River was at 111 percent, the DWR said. New Melones Reservoir on the Stanislaus River stood at 126 percent.
Most storms tend to come from November through March, but spring rain and snow can happen.
This story was originally published March 23, 2020 at 6:47 PM.
