By Reginald Stanley. Posted January 18, 2019, 8:19 PM.

An atmospheric river event pushed storm after storm towards the region this week, boosting season totals and improving drought conditions, as well as delivering a fresh mountain snowpack. Thursday's rainfall brought two WeatherCurrents stations - De Luz and Lake Elsinore - above 10 inches for the 2018-19 water year-to-date, an occurrence that did not happen at all during the much drier 2017-18 rainy season.

Continuing a wet week, two additional Pacific storms targeted the region Wednesday and Thursday of this week, bringing more rain and mountain snow. Storm totals varied widely among Inland communities, from a two-day total of just 0.27 inches in Anza to an impressive 2.89 inches in East Highland (courtesy of Peter Michas). Lake Elsinore followed not far behind with 2.54 inches. Locations further north received more rain in general from the storms, with totals gradually decreasing further south, with the exception of most mountain and foothill locations. Beaumont (Cherry Valley), not far from East Highland, recorded a two-day total of 1.92 inches - a typical result of orographic lift and favorable storm dynamics in that area. De Luz and Fallbrook received a healthy dose of rainfall on both days. Moreno Valley also observed a combined total of 1.66 inches - exceeding the total of nearby Perris by over a full inch. Simi Valley, northwest of Los Angeles, also recorded 1.12 inches.

Areas that received much less benefit from the storm included non-mountainous locations to the south and east. In contrast to the storms earlier in the week, where Anza placed high on the list of storm totals for that period - Anza placed at the very bottom of Wednesday and Thursday's rain activity, with a combined total of only 0.27 inches. The eastern valleys, including the cities of Hemet, San Jacinto and Perris, all received similarly less rainfall, as they did during this week's earlier storms. The Temecula Valley in particular paints an interesting pattern of rainfall distribution. The valley's northern hub of Lake Elsinore was deluged with a total of 2.57 inches - however totals drastically dropped off to the south and eastern parts of the valley. Northwestern Murrieta received 0.82 inches, along with 0.75 inches in Central Murrieta, and French Valley with only 0.48 inches. The southern hub of the valley, Temecula, received only 0.64 inches. In Temecula Valley's Wine Country to the east, a two-day total of 0.46 inches was observed (courtesy of Jim Sappington). WeatherCurrents stations in Riverside (Orangecrest), Wildomar and San Diego (City Heights) were not available.

The final storm departed the region late Thursday, leaving a dense overnight marine layer in some parts of the Inland Empire that lasted well into Friday morning. High pressure building off the California coast will dry our weather out well into next week, bringing along with it a chance of offshore flow beginning Wednesday.

Here are the rain totals for the WeatherCurrents network and associates: