SLO sees driest back-to-back Februaries in 150 years. Here’s when it might rain again
San Luis Obispo in 2020 and 2021 saw its driest back-to-back Februaries in 150 years as the Central Coast remains abnormally dry, and much of California is experiencing drought conditions.
Cal Poly received just 0.14 inches of rain in February 2021, and it got just trace amounts in February 2020, said John Lindsey, PG&E meteorologist.
Those two Februaries form the driest pair seen in the 152 years of rainfall data Cal Poly’s Irrigation Training & Research Center has kept since 1870, Lindsey said.
Until these two years, the driest two Februaries in a row were all the way back in 1898, when 0.28 inches of rain fell at Cal Poly, and in 1899, when the university got 0.16 inches — adding up to 0.44 inches back-to-back.
Cal Poly also received little precipitation in 1963 and 1964. In 1963, the university received 0.12 inches of rain, and in 1964, it got 0.42 inches — a total of 0.54 inches during two years.
“All the climate models have been advertising more long and more severe droughts,” Lindsey said.
Lindsey blames a variety of factors for the poor rainfall totals the past two Februaries, including climate change, La Niña and a climate event known as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation.
“The phases of the PDO are labeled warm or cool,” Lindsey wrote in a December Tribune column. “Unlike El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), which focuses on the sea-surface temperature in the central equatorial region of the Pacific, the PDO is classified by seawater temperatures throughout the northern Pacific Ocean. The December model runs are indicating that it will continue to shift to the cool phase, which can mean a higher chance of below-normal rainfall.”
Most of California is experiencing moderate to exceptional drought conditions, U.S. Drought Monitor maps show. Most areas of San Luis Obispo County and the Central Coast are abnormally dry and verging on moderate drought, according to the Feb. 23 map.
Rain is next expected on the Central Coast on Wednesday, although precipitation will fall only as far north as Santa Maria, Lindsey said.
San Luis Obispo County could get rain on Saturday, although it will come with northwesterly winds, which don’t typically produce a lot of rain, Lindsey said. The county will likely get a quarter of an inch to half an inch of rain at the most, he said.
“It would be welcome, that’s for sure,” Lindsey said.
This story was originally published March 1, 2021 at 2:36 PM.
