SAN DIEGO 2020 RECAP: RAINFALL & TEMPERATURES

2020 was a warm and dry year. Every month had temperatures that were well above normal, especially in May, September and October, which were very warm. 

The total precipitation for 2020 was 7.83", which is 2.51" below normal. Only March and April had rainfall that was significantly above normal. In fact, almost 75% of the year's total rainfall came in these two months. I've posted the monthly rain totals across San Diego County at the bottom of this post.

 

	Average Temperature	Departure From Normal	Total Rainfall	Departure From Normal
Jan	58.6	1.5	0.48	-1.50
Feb	59.5	1.6	0.38	-1.89
Mar	61.2	1.8	2.15	0.34
Apr	64.7	3.0	3.68	2.90
May	68.7	4.7	0.02	-0.10
Jun	68.5	2.1	0.14	0.07
Jul	71.0	1.0	0.00	-0.03
Aug	73.6	2.0	0.00	-0.02
Sep	74.2	3.6	0.00	-0.15
Oct	71.5	4.8	0.12	-0.45
Nov	62.7	1.4	0.26	-0.75
Dec	57.9	1.4	0.60	-0.93
Total	66.0	2.4	7.83	-2.51

 

This chart shows rain totals by month at the San Diego Airport.

Here are is the daily rainfall through the year. The tan shaded area represents when we are in a rain deficit. You can see that the deficit was erased in April. However, it was a dry end to the year, which dropped rain totals below the yearly average.

This graph shows daily temperatures through the year, indicated by the black lines. The grey shaded area is the normal zone for temperatures. It's easy to spot that most temperatures were on the warm side.

 

This graph is a combination of the two above.

Rain totals for the entire year.

This map shows the departure from normal for precipitation across the state. You can see that most of California was below normal. Northern California had an extraordinarily dry year.

This map shows rainfall as a percentage of the annual average. It's a great way to highlight which areas were dry or wet. Some parts of Northern California only got 30% of their normal rainfall. Although Southern California fared better, it was still generally dry.

This map shows that most of California was much below normal for rainfall, however, it wasn't record-breaking dry. 

2020 was a hot year in California. Temperatures were warmer than normal across almost the entire state.

2020 was the hottest year on record for some areas in Northern, Central and Southeastern California.
 

Here are the rain totals across the entire United States.

This map shows a departure from normal for precipitation across the United States. It was a record-breaking hurricane season this year, which brought extreme rainfall across the Southeast and Mid Atlantic regions. It was very dry for the rest of the country.

This map shows the percent of normal for rainfall. Some areas in the Southeast and Mid Atlantic received almost double their normal annual rainfall!

Unsurprisingly, 2020 was the wettest year on record for parts of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana.

California wasn't alone with the hot weather. With the exception of Oklahoma, Arkansas and Minnesota, it was warmer than normal for almost all of the United States.

It was a rough year in Arizona, where most areas experienced the hottest year on record. A lot of New Mexico and Western Texas also had record heat.

Here are the monthly rain totals across San Diego County.