Is Fresno seeing a Miracle March? Here are latest rain totals and when next storm expected

The thunderstorms that moved through the Fresno area Monday, bringing high winds and hail, are gone.

It’s back to warmer and dry conditions — for the time being.

The National Weather Service expected the high temperatures Tuesday to be near 60 degrees, under the seasonal norm. By Thursday, that could be 70 degrees.

The warming trend probably won’t last.

The Weather Service is calling for increased winds, clouds and chances of light rain for the weekend with a slightly stronger system (more wind, rain) moving into the state early next week.

It is needed.

While the first two weeks of March did bring nearly an inch of rain to the Fresno area, it hasn’t been the “miracle” month needed to make up for precipitation deficits following one of the driest Februaries on record.

Fresno has reported .91 inches of rain as of March 15. By contrast, there was just .29 inches reported in all of February.

Last year, Fresno reported 2.32 inches of rain in March, nearly a quarter-inch more than the norm for the month.

Precipitation is also below average in Fresno for the water year, which starts Oct. 1. As of March 1, Fresno had received 5.11 inches of rain, about 2.5 inches less than a normal water-year total for the time.

Moving into the dry season, the area needs to pick up another five inches to rain to meet that yearly norm of 11.50 inches.

Fresno reported just 7.63 inches of rain in 2020.

This story was originally published March 16, 2021 at 10:49 AM.