Posted December 2, 2007, 2:48 PM.

Rainfall ranged from just under 2" to the north in Riverside to 4.51" in one Temecula location, falling off to 3.38" in Fallbrook.

After more than a year of drought conditions, as well as major fires, the rain was most welcome, although some flooding was reported.

The rainfall totals appeared to ignore the more normal orthographic patterns of storms from the west, in which the inland valleys see decreasing rainfall towards the east. For instance, Fallbrook and De Luz usually get more than Temecula and Murrieta.

This time, Temecula was where the rain really fell. More rain fell on Friday (4.23") than in two prior entire rainfall seasons this decade, 2006-2007 (3.75") and 2001-2002 (3.87"). The prior one day record for Temecula, dating back to 2000, was 2.27" on January 9th, 2005.

Fallbrook's 3.35" on Friday was just short of 3.48" on January 9th, 2005. Likewise, Murrieta's Friday total of 2.99" was short of 3.06" on October 27th, 2004. In additon, Hemet's 2.62" was not as much as 2.98" on March 15th, 2003. Lake Elsinore's 2.21" was second to 2.5" on February 21, 2005. Friday totals for all four communities were the second highest ever.

Friday's totals for Menifee Valley (Sun City), Riverside (Canyon Crest), Perris, San Jacinto, and De Luz were all station records. Unlike the Temecula weather station, none of those stations have been in operation more than three years.

The following storm totals were recorded:

Data for San Jacinto for the storm was taken from a nearby station, CWOP 3539. The rain gauge for San Jacinto was damaged in the October sandstorm there and has yet to be repaired.