December is shaping up to be among the driest ever recorded in Manteca.

So far, just 0.15 inches of rain has fallen in a month that averages 1.84 inches.

The National Weather Service is calling for some cloudy skies through the end of the year but that’s about it. After a dry and relatively temperate holiday weekend, the forecast calls for a chance of rain by Wednesday.

The Sierra snowpack is not doing much better. It is at 10 percent of normal in the Lake Tahoe Basin so far this month That comes after just a year ago when December 2010 snowfall was more than twice the normal level. There is no snow in the forecast for the rest of 2011.