The water year, or rain year runs from October 1 to September 30 every year. This last rain year was the second driest that I have recorded in 25 years. We received a paltry 5.35 inches of rain this last water year, and as you can see from this Historic chart (Top), only the 2006-2007 rain year was drier with only 4.62 inches of rain. Now for the good news: La Niña has returned and there is a 87% chance that this will be a La Niña wet season. That means that in all likelihood we will receive more than average rain this year, good news for our parched mountains. Our average annual rainfall in Fernwood is now down to 18.69 inches of the wet stuff after factoring in last year’s drought. So far this young rain year we have received 15 inches of precipitation here in Fernwood. Our average rain for this date (October 18) is 46 inches of juice.