More rain to follow wet weekend in Humboldt

While drought remains an issue, December is shaping up to be a wet month for Humboldt County.

The weekend storm brought in 1.8 inches of rain in the Humboldt Bay area and dumped closer to 2.5 inches farther north past Trinidad and into the hills, bringing the monthly total measured at the National Weather Service office in Eureka to 2.06 inches.

“Just for December at this point, it will be above average,” James White, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Eureka, said. “It’s a good start to the month in terms of rain.”

The next storm system is expected to approach on Thursday into Friday with potential to go through the weekend, though there remains a degree of uncertainty regarding the weekend rains, White said.

In the Humboldt Bay region, the average rainfall to-date for the water year — which began in October — is roughly 8.2 inches, and this year about 7.5 of rain have been measured since the beginning of the water year.

“(The rainfall is) pretty close to average, which is good, that’s a real improvement,” White said.”Things could change, we were about at the same point this time last year and it ended up being really dry.”

As with the previous weeks’ storms, there’s a chance for pockets of hail to accompany the rains, meaning drivers should take extra precautions and make a point to avoid unsafe behaviors while operating their vehicles.

The upcoming storms are expected to create roughly one to two inches of rain on Thursday and Friday, with potential for another one or two inches through the weekend.

“We’re going to hopefully see some improving drought conditions,” White said. “We finally started to see some response on our big local rivers, the Eel River has finally started to show some returns.”