Calif. Rainfall Totals Released: Drought Persists, Data Shows

In a report that may surprise northern California residents, California's 2016 water year ended Friday with a fifth consecutive dry year of low snowfall, according to the Department of Water Resources. The "water year" runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30 each year.

Surprising because of a wet El Nino pattern last winter.

The National Weather Service reports above-average rainfall in some communities, and close to average elsewhere:

• Monterey 119 percent
• Santa Cruz 104 percent
• Livermore 101 percent
• San Francisco 98 percent
• San Jose 94 percent
• Tahoe City 93 percent
• Santa Rosa 89 percent
• Napa 88 percent
• Oakland 87 percent

But Southern California missed out on the El Nino bounty, dragging down the statewide average.

• San Diego Airport 76 percent
• Big Bear Lake 73 percent
• Los Angeles, Airport 57 percent
• Palm Springs 54 percent
• Ojai 50 percent
• Los Angeles, Downtown 46 percent
• Long Beach 41 percent
• Santa Ana 38 percent

The state has made saving water a permanent fixture in California.

>>Governor Signs Bill to Crack Down on Water-Guzzling Households

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center sees slightly better than even odds that La Nina conditions will develop this fall and winter, though that does not necessarily mean there will be substantial rainfall, however.

Sixty percent of the state remains in severe or extreme drought, water officials said.

— Bay City News contributed to this report; Image via Shutterstock