This year, so far, we've seen less than half as much rain as last year across San Luis Obispo County, but KSBY Chief Meteorologist Dave Hovde says it's too early to rule out another storm like last year's.
"The important thing to know about rainfall and trying to compare one year to the other year, it’s not very fair," Hovde said.
He said that's because rainfall takes place at different times throughout the year. Therefore, comparing rain totals from last January to this January might not accurately depict the year's totals since the rainy season isn't over yet.
"We get our rains in fits and starts here, so you can go a long period of time with no rain, but then you have like a miracle month of March and get hammered with rain," Hovde said.
That was indeed the case last January when the Central Coast received much of its rainfall all at once. The result? Extensive damage.
Atascadero farm owner Chelsea Lyons of Shady Oaks Farm said last year's rains cost her more than $30,000 in repairs.
"The water ended up overwhelming the culvert pipe on the road and coming over and flooding and taking out a lot of the road," Lyons said.
She wants to ensure she's prepared should another storm of that caliber take place this year.
"They said that we are going to get a lot of that weather again, so we wanted to make sure that didn’t happen again, so we added extra drainage, extra rock, all that kind of stuff," Lyons said.
Hovde advises those in positions like Lyons to prepare for storms ahead of time to avoid incurring extra costs and damage later.
"Always be ready, and the best thing is to prepare for the worst. And if that doesn’t happen, you’re prepared. Now, I understand that costs money. It costs so much more money to not be prepared," Hovde said.
As for whether another big storm is coming, he says it's too early to know for sure since there are still several months left in the storm season.
"There’s plenty of time yet to have something impactful," Hovde said, "This is the prime time of the year. We expect activity. Do we expect mega-storms? Those are impossible to predict two or three or four months down the road."
