As the 2015 precipitation year dryly begins to wind down, the region is still hoping to catch up in terms of precipitation starting as soon as tonight.

According to the National Weather Service, new precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch will be possible during evening hours.

This small bout of precipitation will continue on Thursday with chances of precipitation ranging from 50 to 70 percent throughout the day, with showers and possible thunderstorms after 11 a.m. New rainfall amounts will fall between a tenth and a quarter of an inch, however higher amounts will be possible in the chance of thunderstorms.

As detailed in his weekly water report, Turlock Irrigation District Utility Analyst also provided forecasts that detailed the possibility of upwards of 2 inches to 2.5 inches in the upper watershed later this month.

“This is an exceptionally high range of values for this time of year, so we’ll watch that as we move forward,” said Carkeet.

“This is what January should’ve looked like,” commented TID Board President Ron Macedo.

The Tuolumne River Watershed has accumulated 0.68 inches of precipitation for May, a month that on average experiences 1.61 inches of precipitation. Of that total, a majority came from the storm the region underwent on Friday.

“We received 0.62 inches in that storm, which was our largest value last week,” said Carkeet.

Looking at the precipitation year, which officially begins in September, through May 12, the Tuolumne River Watershed has experienced a total of 18.19 inches of rain, which is 52.8 percent of average for this date.