By Reginald Stanley. Posted July 1, 2013, 5:18 PM.

The 2012-2013 rain season featured below average rainfall for the second year in a row, with most WeatherCurrents communities recording even lower rainfall than the previous season.

A strong monsoon season last summer boosted some communities' rain totals, particularly in areas such as Beaumont, Lake Elsinore and the San Jacinto Valley. Out of the eighteen WeatherCurrents stations active at the time, only San Diego (City Heights) did not record any measurable rainfall from last summer's thunderstorms.

Storms were sporadic from the months of October through May, and distributed rainfall unevenly most of the time, if at all. One storm in December and another in early March were the only decent wet storms of the entire rain season.

Beaumont (Cherry Valley) recorded 13.75" for the 2012-13 rain season, which benefited greatly from last summer's thunderstorms - and the highest season total in the WeatherCurrents network. San Bernardino and De Luz were also able to exceed 10 inches of rainfall. Most of the WeatherCurrents communities recorded between 4" and 8". Moreno Valley recorded the lowest total with only 3.08", followed by Anza with only 3.21" (was not yet active during last summer's thunderstorms). Other communities with low season totals were San Diego (City Heights) with 4.15", Canyon Crest in Riverside with 4.63", and Jurupa Valley with 4.96".

The 2012-13 season was characterized by neutral conditions in the equatorial Pacific (neither El Nino nor La Nina). Neutral conditions have been typically associated with below average rainfall in Southern California. This last occurred in 2001-2002, when only the Temecula station was active, which recorded a dismal 3.87" that year. The NOAA winter outlook for 2013-2014 currently predicts equal chances for a wetter or drier than average rain season.

Continued drought and heat this year has worsened fire conditions and already led to an early fire season in the region. Fuels are drier now and in much greater danger of burning.

The rain season in California runs from July 1st through June 30th.

Here are the 2012-2013 rain season totals for the WeatherCurrents network and associates:

Note: Season Averages were only given for stations with at least five complete years of data. Even these averages may be skewed from many dry years or unusually wet ones, and should not be interpreted as the actual average rainfall for those communities.