Today
Has it rained enough in San Diego?
Rain soaked properly in 7 days ago, and the ground is still holding some of it.
San Diego has had 34.3mm of rain in the last 30 days. That is well above the 13.7mm a normal October brings here, and closer to the wettest on record (130.1mm).
Rain reaching the roots · 14 days
17 OctToday
Reached the roots
Rain that did not
one day of 14
Thirty years
Rain in San Diego through a normal year
Across a normal year San Diego gets about 300mm of rain, most of it in February (64.5mm) and least in June (1.7mm).
A normal October in San Diego has rain on 4 days. Only 2 of them bring enough to reach a root.
That makes San Diego one of the drier places this site covers in the United States in October — 29th of 30, against Seattle at the wet end (131.5mm) and Las Vegas at the dry end (8.4mm).
JFebMAMJunJASOND
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.