Santa Rosa records 52 inches of rain in 1 year, most in history

Santa Rosa CHP officer Ken Enger directs traffic around a car, which skidded off of the road during flooding in Sonoma County in January. Santa Rosa CHP officer Ken Enger directs traffic around a car, which skidded off of the road during flooding in Sonoma County in January. Photo: Brian L. Frank, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Brian L. Frank, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 60 Caption Close Santa Rosa records 52 inches of rain in 1 year, most in history 1 / 60 Back to Gallery

For the 12 months ending at the end of February, 52.07 inches of rain fell in Santa Rosa, the most since records were first kept in 1902, a meteorologist said.

Though the rainy season doesn’t officially end until the end of June, rainfall tends to taper off toward the end of the season, said Jan Null, a meteorologist with San Francisco-based Golden Gate Weather Services who has been tracking the Bay Area’s weather for years.

Since the rainy season in San Francisco began in July through the end of February, 26.09 inches of rain fell on the city, good for the 9th wettest period on record for that duration, Null said.

“These are big numbers,” Null said, adding that San Francisco’s records go back much longer than Santa Rosa’s — to 1850 — which helps explain the discrepancy in rainfall rankings.

The distribution of storms this season have been concentrated in December and January for both Santa Rosa and San Francisco, Null said, boosting up the rainfall figures and sending them reaching toward record highs.

Michael Bodley is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mbodley@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @michael_bodley