California Gets Hits

You want intense weather? Then head down to California! With a high amplitude trough over the eastern Pacific, one system after another is heading to California. Here are some amazing statistics noted by my colleague Mark Albright:

Point Reyes north of San Francisco reached 79 mph.

At Burns Canyon 20 miles N of Palm Springs at 6300 ft, there was a wind gust of 96 knots (110 mph) at noon Sunday 20 March 2011. In contrast, at 11 AM the wind was nearly calm at Palm Springs.

The 27-hr total ending last night at 10 PM 20 March 2011 was 6.06 inches in Santa Barbara of which 4.13 inches fell in just 12 hours. Their monthly (28 days) total has now mushroomed to 7.78 inches.

AT SANTA BARBARA YESTERDAY WAS THE WETTEST CALENDAR DAY ON RECORD...AS THE 5.23 INCHES OF RAIN WHICH FELL EXCEEDED THE PREVIOUS RECORD OF 4.74 INCHES RECORDED ON MARCH 15TH 2003. That is a big one.

Many of southern CA stations had their daily records.


The general pattern is going to continue for a while, but with a shift of the precipitation into central and northern CA. The mountains of northern CA will get hit by 2-5 inches of rain. We are going to be quite dry in comparison to those poor souls in CA. As I noted the current pattern would send any Japan radiation into CA,.


Good news. The National Weather Service has secured the property for the new coastal radar (on Langley Hill) and work on clearing and preparing the land is now beginning.