SLO County’s historic 2023 rain year is complete. Here’s how much we got
San Luis Obispo County epic 2023 rain year is now officially complete, and it will go as one of its wettest ever recorded after massive atmospheric river storms slammed into the Central Coast in January and March.
The 2023 rain year ran from Oct. 1, 2022, until Sept. 30, and locations across San Luis Obispo County far exceeded their normal averages.
Rocky Butte northeast of Cambria rocketed past its average annual precipitation of 40 inches to finish at nearly 97 inches, or 242% of its average rain year, according to the San Luis Obispo County Public Works Department.
San Luis Obispo received about 178% of its average annual precipitation of 22 inches. In total, 39.2 inches was recorded at a San Luis Obispo County Public Works Department site off Industrial Way and Broad Street.
Paso Robles recorded 27.2 inches of rain, 188% of its average of 14.5 inches, according to the Weather Service.
Eastern Arroyo Grande also saw 188% of its average fall during the 2023 rain year. In total, 33.9 inches were recorded, up from its average of 18 inches, according to the San Luis Obispo County Public Works Department.
Even the desert area of the Carrizo Plain National Monument saw an above-average rain year. There, 15.5 inches were recorded, 162% of its average of 9.5 inches, according to the Weather Service.
The 2023 rain year finished as the third wettest since 1998 for the San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport and the 10th wettest since 1952 for the Paso Robles Municipal Airport, according to the Weather Service.
The San Luis Obispo airport recorded 31 inches of rain this past year. The wettest year since 1998 was 2005 when 33.8 inches fell, according to the Weather Service.
The Paso Robles airport’s 2023 total of 20.9 inches was still a far cry of the 29.6 inches that fell in 1969.
Water year Oct 2022-Sep 2023 was one of the wettest across SW CA with most climate sites in the top 10. Downtown LA was the 7th wettest since records began in 1877. #LAWeather #LARain #cawx #SoCal pic.twitter.com/xcsjbcz4BE
— NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) October 2, 2023
The massive amount of rainfall brought the county out of a severe drought that had shriveled local reservoirs and dried up creeks.
After the massive rainfall events during January and March, most of the local reservoirs — Santa Margarita Lake, Whale Rock Reservoir and Lake Lopez — spilled for the first time in years after reaching historic lows.
Current seasonal outlooks by the Weather Service predict that San Luis Obispo County will receive average or slightly above average rainfall over the next few months amid increasing signs of an El Niño weather pattern. That will keep drought away, according to predictions by the U.S. Drought Monitor.
