A Pacific storm that is tapping into moisture from the sub-tropics dropped substantial amounts of rain across San Diego County before dawn on Tuesday, and more showers are expected as the system shuffles off to the east, according to the National Weather Service.
After one of the driest Februaries on record across much of California, the first day of March brought a dash of rain and a dusting of fresh powder to the parched landscape.
The storm, which rolled into Los Angeles County on Sunday afternoon, dropped less than one-tenth of an inch of rain on the coast, while higher elevations saw between one-quarter and an inch of precipitation.
Snow Valley Mountain Resort in the San Bernardino Mountains reported a foot of snow from the system, while Frazier Park in Kern County received a 3-inch dusting, said John Dumas, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
It’s looking a lot more like winter in California’s parched mountains today.
Snow fell across the Sierra and in the mountains of Southern California on Sunday.
And, while the immediate forecast calls for a return of dry skies, the National Weather Service in Hanford says there is a possibility of rain on the Valley floor and snow in the mountains on Saturday.
The early March turnabout followed two months that set records for dryness in parts of the state.
A winter with little precipitation has left most of California abnormally dry and officials are bracing for the possibility of an early and more intense wildfire season amid record-breaking temperatures.
Drought has expanded to nearly a quarter of the state, mainly in central California, the heart of the state’s agricultural sector, according to a U.S. Drought Monitor map mad public Thursday. The map shows 70 percent of the state is abnormally dry.
With unusually dry, hot weather continuing for weeks on end and the driest February in the Bay Area in 156 years, nearly a quarter of California’s land area now is under drought conditions, federal officials announced Thursday.
Altogether, 23.3% of the state is in “moderate drought” — up from 9.5% last week, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, a weekly report issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The image is disturbing and leaves little doubt about California’s growing predicament: The snowpack in the Sierra Nevada is a sad whisper of it was a year ago, a withering testament to the lack of precipitation in the state’s increasingly dry winter.
The National Weather Service tweeted satellite images of the Sierra on Tuesday, showing the stark difference between this year and the above-average snowfall from 2019. The mountain snowpack — a crucial element in the state’s annual water supply — is 53 percent of normal for this time of year, according to the Department of Water Resources.
Two NASA satellite images released late Monday by the National Weather Service office in Sacramento starkly illustrate how much less snow is covering the Sierra Nevada this week compared to the same time a year ago.
The images, taken from roughly 438 miles above Earth, show California’s Sierra Nevada range. In the first, from Feb. 18, 2019, the region is blanketed with snow. On that day, the snowpack, which is the source of about one-third of the state’s annual water supply, was at 147% of its historical statewide average for that date.
More rain and snow area headed to Northern California on Tuesday, although the storm won’t be nearly enough to make up for what’s been a relatively dry January.
The National Weather Service said rain is expected to start falling at around 7 a.m. Tuesday, just in time for the morning commute. Light snow should hit the Sierra Nevada a couple of hours later, said NWS forecaster Craig Shoemaker.
A fast-moving storm will bring a chance of rain and snow in San Diego County Thursday before exiting by midday Friday, according to the National Weather Service. The cold front moving down the coast is expected to bring a drop in temperatures, gusty winds out of the west, a chance of rain everywhere except deserts areas and a chance of snow in the mountains, forecasters said.
The rain is expected to start falling this evening, then linger overnight before the storm system leaves by Friday afternoon. Rainfall totals could reach 1 inch in the mountains, while a quarter- inch of rain is expected in coastal areas and the western valleys.
Break out the umbrellas and hang onto those heavy coats because the region’s first significant winter storm of 2020 is expected to unleash rain and snow Thursday.
After what has been a mostly dry January, a chilly winter storm is expected to move into the northern portion of the state Tuesday before making its way down the coast to Los Angeles County by late Thursday morning.
