The 2025-26 water year is off to a good start for Turlock.

With 5.22 inches of rain since Oct. 1, the city is at 428 percent of its typical total of 1.22 inches by this time, according to Ryan Hollister, an instructor at Stanislaus State and Modesto Junior College who operates a weather station at his home in east Turlock. That average is based on a 30-year sample (1991-2020) from the official Turlock No. 2 climate station.

"No one-day (unofficial) records were broken," said Hollister.
"But, Nov. 15-17 was unofficially the rainiest sequential three-day period in November. I recorded 2.74 inches in the time, beating the official record of 2.56 inches recorded Nov. 13-15 in 1928."
The total rainfall for November, according to Hollister, is 3.80 inches, which would be the fifth-wettest November in Turlock's recorded history. The city received 4.87 inches of rain in 1965 and 1970.
"The spotty, slow-moving thunderstorms (Monday) really added to the totals for the folks northeast of town and clipped southern parts of town where I live," said Hollister. "The central part of town where the official gauge is kept only had a brief shower, so the official record may stand after the data is reported."
In 1972, the period up to Nov. 18 received 4.48 inches of rain, making this the wettest start to a water year since records have been kept over the last century.

"We had a series of weather systems move through the area that were hugging the coastline and moving toward Southern California," said NWS meteorologist Dakari Anderson, who pointed out that more rain is forecast for early Thursday.

"Right now we're looking for light to moderate showers over the area anytime past midnight to about 8 a.m.," said Anderson. "There will be scattered showers much of the morning before things taper off. ... It will be lighter in terms of impact."

Since Sept. 1, the start of the precipitation year for Turlock Irrigation District, the Tuolumne River Watershed has received 8.2 inches of precipitation — 165 percent of the average for the date. Of that total, 5.61 inches fell during November.
Don Pedro Reservoir is currently at an elevation of 787 feet, 9 inches, with about 1.54 million acre-feet of storage.