I've read your question(s) several times now and still can't quite make out what you're getting at. You seem to have already answered for yourself. Transverse ranges? Are you referring to the Tehachapis? California is a state defined geographically by its two significant longitudinal mountain ranges, the Coastal and the Sierra Nevada.
There are significant meteorological and climatological effects (i.e, uplift and rain shadow) caused by this geographical arrangement, as weather systems follow the global westerly pattern in the northern hemisphere. Our "wet" years come from (1) winter storms originating in the Gulf of Alaska and finding little resistance to riding low pressure troughs into California from the north; and/or (2) the establishment of a temporary conduit of moist air from the tropics – the so called river of air known colloquially as "the "Pineapple Express", since it tends to originate near Hawaii. It can be a very wet year without the presence of any Pineapple Express. These phenomena are sometimes assisted or hindered by global interaction with sea surface warming, or cooling, of various degrees by "El Niño" or "La Niña" events, respectively, occurring in the Central Pacific. The northerly progress of warmer waters up the western coast of North America during El Niño years displaces the normally colder California Current, which hinders coastal cyclogenesis and provides California with its typical Mediterranean style climate.
As a rule, our wet years, by definition, include the entire state of California. Any particular region of this great state may experience differing degrees of 'wetness' based the specific geography referred to above, but all parts will be wetter in a wet year. Look no further than California's Death Valley, separated by three distinct mountain ranges and their individual rain shadows milking moisture from westerly storm systems, experiencing its last massive wild flower bloom in another wet year (2006?).
If you seek academic authority, my "thoughts" are that you go to the people who know these things and keep records. That would be the U.S. government (NOAA, NWS), not the inexhaustible supply of self appointed experts and anecdotal sources you will find on the web and elsewhere – including here, including me. If you are more than "just curious", you might consider what others, including me, have done and satisfy your intellectual curiosity by obtaining a degree in meteorology or atmospheric science from an accredited university. Perhaps more to the point of this forum, yes it was wet in 2011, and the mosquitoes were horrible!