No rainfall record was set in downtown Sacramento on Christmas Day, but it was quite a deluge.
A total of .91 of an inch of precipitation was registered downtown, according to the National Weather Service. The record rainfall for downtown on December 25 was set in 1884 when 2.42 inches drenched Sacramento.
However, there was a record set at Executive Airport in South Sacramento on Christmas day when .89 of an inch fell. That broke the old record of .68 set in 2010.
The Executive Airport records don't go back to a far as those for downtown. The first official weather observation in downtown Sacramento occurred July 1, 1877.
The big storm with record rainfall on Christmas Day 1884 culminated nearly two weeks of rainfall, but there were no reports of flooding in Sacramento. The overflow dam in the Yolo levee above Washington did fail. And water-covered tracks in parts of the region disrupted train service, but not badly. The Sacramento River rose to 24 feet 4 inches on Dec. 26, 1884 -- about 2 feet, 2 inches below the high water mark, according to The Sacramento Bee of that date.
Weather data from the NWS for downtown:
December 25 rain: .91of an inch
Record for the date: 2.42 inches in 1884
Total December 2012 so far: 6.45 inches
Total since July 1: 12.06
Percent of normal for July 1-Dec. 25 period: 182 percent.
December rainfall by the day:
1-- .79
2 - 1.38
3 -- .00
4-- .05
5 -- .50
6 -- .01
7 -- .00
8 -- .00
9 -- .00
10 -- .00
11 -- .03
12 -- .04
13 -- .00
14 -- .00
15 -- .14
16 -- .00
17 -- .33
18 -- .00
19 -- .00
20 -- .00
21 -- .41
22 -- .88
23 -- .98
24 -- .00
25 -- .91
Total so far in December: 6.45 inches
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