The 2011 weather year is going out like it came in: dry.

Even with heavy rain in the forecast for the next few days, December is clearly going to end up with less rainfall than normal.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the total rainfall for the month has been only .75 inches at the Curry Coastal Pilot’s downtown weather station. There have been only four days with measurable precipitation.

The average December total is just over 13 inches of rain. 

The dry December keeps up the 2011 trend for rainfall in the typically “wet” months for Brookings. The months that all average more than 10 inches – January, February, November and December – all were well under average.

March tried to make it up, dumping 17.35 inches of rain on 28 days of the month. April and May each tried to add a little more, but not much.

The average rainfall for a calendar year is about 70 inches in Brookings. The total through Tuesday at the Pilot’s weather station was only a little over 55 inches, measured on 112 days through the year.

The dry trend is being seen all along the West Coast, with forecasters saying the storm track is not expected to move further south for at least a week.

Both January and December 2011 brought some of those balmy winter days that have earned Brookings the “Banana Belt” nickname. The high temperature in January was 73; the high in December was 69.To follow the Pilot’s weather station, and to see other weather stations and forecasts for the community, readers can go online to www.currypilot.com/weather.