Los Angeles' rain season ended with the seventh-driest rainfall total for the period in more than 130 years as the state enters a hot, dry summer under a drought emergency.
Just 6.08 inches of rain was recorded in downtown Los Angeles for the rain season, between July 1, 2013 and June 30. That goes down as the seventh-driest rain season since record-keeping began in downtown LA in 1877, but slightly better than the previous rain season total of just 5.85 inches.
The two seasons are the driest back-to-back seasons on record, according to the National Weather Service. Over the past three rain seasons, downtown LA is running about 2 feet below normal.
The average for the rain season is 14.93 inches -- a distant aspiration in a drought-stricken state that just completed its warmest and third-driest winter on record. Significant rainfall deficits for the past season were also recorded in San Francisco to the Central Valley and south to San Diego,
- Running Dry: Drought Map, Updates, Water Conservation
About 33 percent of the state faces "Exceptional Drought" conditions, including a large swath of the Central Valley region, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. "Exceptional" is the most severe of the Monitor's drought levels, which include Abnormally Dry (D0), Moderate (D1), Severe (D2), Extreme (D3) and Exceptional (D4).
Nearly 77 percent of the state is categorized in Extreme/Exceptional drought, which brings the threat of rapid wildfire spread this summer, stressed crops and water supply issues.
