Muger has been living in Almaden Valley since 1979. He worked at IBM for 31 years before retiring and now works in security at the card club Bay 101.

It was this love of rain that started Muger's stint as a backyard meteorologist. Muger purchased a rain gauge and began measuring rainfall at his house. He first began reporting his findings to Steve Schill at local television station KNTV, now an afflilate of NBC 11, 20 years ago.

Muger recently joined NBC 11 WeatherPlus meteorologist John Farley as one of his "weather watchers" for the station. These local weather watchers report daily high and low temperatures and rainfall in different areas of the South Bay, including Los Gatos, Almaden Valley, Campbell, Fremont and Cupertino. Muger is the point man for the Almaden Valley.

Muger has expanded his local forecasts from rainfall to temperature with the purchase of a thermometer and now calls in his daily recordings to Farley every Monday through Friday.

Additionally, Muger compiles a final rain report at the end of June, detailing the average rainfall for the entire year. He prints out 400 copies at his own expense and delivers them to his neighbors in the Woodside area as well as Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and the water company.

"I have the total rainfall by year from 1982," Muger says. He said the average rainfall in Almaden for the last 20 years is 19.5 inches. The most rain came in 1997--36 inches.

Muger's forecasts predate the NBC11 weather watcher program, which Farley started in 1998. And Muger is the only weather watcher to produce an annual rain report.

Rain is one of the major differences between weather in Almaden and weather in downtown San Jose. According to Farley, Almaden gets about 50 percent more rain than downtown San Jose. Also, Almaden tends to be about 10 degrees warmer in the summer and colder in the winter.

"We always knew there were differences in temperature and rain," Farley said, "and now we have the numbers to verify it."

Farley said the biggest problem with the national Weather Service report is that the forecast is a general one for all of San Jose that is broadcast to approximately 2 million people.

"Ours is the only weather report that breaks San Jose into different parts," Farley said.

The weather watchers demonstrated the importance of having several reports on March 10 when rain, sun, hail and snow were all part of the day's weather in different areas of the South Bay.

Muger said his neighbors are appreciative of the extra information he provides.

"I get phone calls and thank-you notes saying the information is appreciated," he said.

Arsen Muger's weather report

July 2004 through June 2005 was the fifth highest rain total in 20 years, according to Muger's calculations.

"We had 55 days of measurable rain," he said. The total rainfall recorded for the 2004-05 year was 28.85 inches in Almaden Valley.

The lowest temperature recorded last year was 26 degrees in December. The highest temperature was 99 degrees in both August and September.

Muger recorded 118 days with temperatures in the 60s; 90 days in the 80s; 72 days in the 70s; 52 days in the 50s; 33 days in the 90s; and zero days in the 100s or the 40s.