Today
Has it rained enough in Sacramento?
Rain soaked properly in 8 days ago, and the ground is still holding some of it.
Sacramento has had 3.4mm of rain in the last 30 days. A normal October here brings 32.8mm, so that is about 10% of what the ground usually gets — and the driest October in 30 years was 0mm.
Rain reaching the roots · 14 days
17 OctToday
Reached the roots
Rain that did not
2 days of 14
Thirty years
Rain in Sacramento through a normal year
Across a normal year Sacramento gets about 613.2mm of rain, most of it in December (123.6mm) and least in July (0.4mm).
A normal October in Sacramento has rain on 4 days. Only 3 of them bring enough to reach a root.
That makes Sacramento one of the drier places this site covers in the United States in October — 26th of 30, against Seattle at the wet end (131.5mm) and Las Vegas at the dry end (8.4mm).
JFMAMJJulASONDec
Average rainfall by month, 1995–2024
What it means
What that means for what you grow
- Pots and hanging basketsWorst hit, and first to suffer. Very little soil, fully exposed, and nothing to fall back on — in this weather they can empty in a day.
- Salad and leafy vegShallow-rooted and quick to bolt once they run dry. First priority of anything in the ground.
- Beds and bordersA long soak that reaches the roots is worth more than a daily sprinkle, which only wets the surface and is gone by lunchtime.
- Established shrubs and treesFine as they are. They draw from far deeper than a dry spell reaches.