Cheshire Cat Photo Blog(...said the Cat: 'we're all mad here....')

Although the past, pre-Super Bowl week has been dry (you might want to tell all the people down in the tornado-prone U.S. South that “we live right!” 😉 ), “El Niño lived up to its rainy promise in January, delivering locations around California their wettest year-opening month in years — and offering some hope of recovery from the depths of the drought.” SFGate.com continues:

San Francisco recorded an impressive 6.94 inches of rain during the month, far above the 4.5 inches it averages in January and the most the city has seen in any January since 2008, according to Golden Gate Weather Services.

The total, in fact, is more than the city received over the past five Januarys combined. (Don’t forget: San Francisco saw no rain for the first time in 165 years of record-keeping in January of last year.)

California’s far north saw the brunt. Eureka had 12.06 inches of rain in January, or 186 percent of average, according to Golden Gate Weather Services. Redding received 12.68 inches, or 213 percent of average.

In January, San Jose got 4.09 inches of rain, or 133 percent of average. Sacramento saw 5.44 inches during the month, or 137 percent of normal, while Fresno saw 4.42 inches, or 202 percent of normal.

Southern California’s rainfall figures for the month were slightly lower. Los Angeles, for example, saw 3.17 inches of rain, or 102 percent of average.