Recent storms put May on path to be wettest on record for Fresno

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A series of storms in the middle of this month has May 2019 on the way to being one of the wettest on record for Fresno.

Storms are dropping out of the Gulf of Alaska, picking up energy in the Pacific Ocean and aiming right at Central California.

"We had two storms come through. One last Thursday and one over the weekend with a lot of moisture with them and they provided so good rainfall to the San Joaquin Valley," said David Spector, National Weather Service, Hanford.

Rainfall on Sunday set new records in Fresno, Merced, Madera, and Hanford. Fresno's record of three-quarters of an inch broke the previous record set in 1884.

As of early Tuesday, both Fresno and Merced are at or over 100% of normal for rainfall for the entire season.

Storms in the month of May made up for lost ground in the months of March and April.

"I have seen storms in the past in the second part of May that have dumped a lot of rain the area. But back to back storms like this is almost unheard of," said Sector.

Fresno is 1.60" of rainfall for May. Storms expected this week will likely push this month into the top three wettest Mays on record for Fresno.

The snowfall this year in the Sierra has been very impressive.

The Southern Sierra is at 136 % of normal.

The China Peak Mountain Resort near Huntington Lake is part of that region, officials there say most of the snow at the ski resort came from storms early on in the season.

"What was huge was the month of February. You know February was an all-time record and so the total snowfall for the year was around maybe 35 feet. And in 2011 and in 2017 were both more than that," said Tim Cohee, China Peak Mountain Resort.

In 2017 portions of the Sierra were at 177 % of normal with over 40 feet of snow in some areas.