Southern California is in the midst of what the National Weather Service describes as a “remarkably dry rainy season,” with much of the region experiencing a record or near-record slow start.
The first major atmospheric river storm to hit the West Coast this season is kicking off the rainy season with a bang, as the system rapidly strengthened — to the tune of a bomb cyclone — before pummeling Northern California and southern Oregon with dangerous winds and heavy rains that could cause disruptions for several days.
Supercharged by that dramatic bombogenesis and warm Pacific temperatures, which together pumped up the system’s winds and moisture, the storm could cause life-threatening flooding and damaging high surf north of the Bay Area, with prolonged, heavy rainfall, strong winds and significant mountain snow, according to the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center.
A “rather impressive system” is setting the stage for what could be California’s first atmospheric river storm of the season, the National Weather Service said Sunday. An atmospheric river carries water vapor from the tropics and, when it makes landfall, can bring a vast amount of rain and snow; in Oct. 2021, for instance, San Francisco got 750% more rainfall than an average year after a powerful atmospheric river passed through the region.
Because the movements of atmospheric river storms are difficult to predict, meteorologists are still refining the forecast. As of Sunday morning, “confidence is high” that northern parts of the North Bay “will be impacted by the strong atmospheric river beginning Wednesday, but these impacts could shift slightly southward closer to the SF Bay,” the weather service said.
An excessive heat warning will be in effect through 8 p.m. Thursday for areas of San Diego County east of Interstate 15 as unseasonably warm weather spreads across most of California, the National Weather Service said.
The daytime high temperatures in areas like Ramona and Alpine will be in the 98-to-100-degree range on Tuesday and will inch higher on Wednesday and possibly Thursday. Escondido and El Cajon will be in the mid- to upper 90s all three days.
Forecasters said Sunday that San Diego will see much warmer, dry weather in the coming days, with the warmest conditions arriving by mid-week.
However, scattered showers and northwest wind gusts up to 20 knots over the coastal waters are expected through early Monday, and snow is blowing in through mountain passes, according to the National Weather Service.
Southern California has started to feel like, well, Southern California again, with sunny afternoons pushing highs into the 80s this week. But don’t start planning warm-weather weekend activities just yet.
San Diego’s nine city reservoirs have already captured enough rainwater since the beginning of the year to serve all of the city’s 1.4 million water customers for 56 days with no imported water, a spokesperson said Wednesday.
March is a notoriously fickle month for California precipitation, but the storm door remains open for the Golden State, where precipitation has been plentiful for a second straight year. The month began with a severe blizzard, and it looks like it will close with a solid dose of Sierra snow — and a potentially significant rainstorm in Southern California.
This weekend’s storm brought at least half an inch of rain to most of San Diego County over the weekend, according to data from the National Weather Service. The highest total was at Lake Cuyamca in our mountains with 2.67 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service.
An approaching storm is expected to soak Southern California this weekend, bringing nearly 2 inches of rain to Los Angeles over four days—nearly the city’s average monthly allotment.
