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More Rain, Less Snow Increases Flooding

/in , , /by /Phys.orgby Danielle Torrent Tucker

As the world warms and precipitation that would have generated snowpack instead creates rain, the western U.S. could see larger floods, according to new Stanford research. An analysis of over 400 watersheds from 1980 to 2016 shows that winter floods driven by rainfall can be more than 2.5 times as large as those driven by snowmelt. The researchers also found that flood sizes increase exponentially as a higher fraction of precipitation falls as rain, meaning the size of floods increased at a faster rate than the increase in rain.

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Fast-Moving Storm Could Bring Rain, Snow to San Diego County

/in , /by /KPBSby City News Service

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.

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2019 Started and Ended Wet in San Diego; Heat Was Less Persistent

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Robert Krier

Last year came in and went out like a wet lion in San Diego County. In between, it was a relatively tranquil, although not uneventful weather year.

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December Has Been Wet in California, But a Predicted Dry Winter Means Wildfire Danger Could Return Early

/in , /by /KTLA 5 Los Angelesby Erika Martin

Southern California’s wettest December in nearly a decade quashed any danger lingering from destructive wildfires in fall, but experts warn that red flag conditions could return as early as April.

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Fires, Floods and More: A View of California From Space In 2019

/in , /by /CALmatters

The year began amid the ashes of the deadliest wildfire in California history. Then came torrential rains, the superbloom, a marine heat wave, and fires again.

They are events that foreshadow a future pattern of more extreme wildfires and rainstorms as climate change drives the Earth’s temperatures higher. The 2019 events prompted now familiar responses from politicians confronted with catastrophe across the state: disaster relief money, funding for scientific studies, and recriminations against bankrupt utility Pacific Gas and Electric.

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Precipitation Above Normal in Southern California and Adding Up in the North

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Paul Duginski

Skiers and snowboarders already know this: California’s recent storms have lifted the state’s precipitation totals to the respectable range in the northern part of the state, and to well above normal in the south, according to Jan Null of Golden Gate Weather Services. Skiers and snowboarders already know this: California’s recent storms have lifted the state’s precipitation totals to the respectable range in the northern part of the state, and to well above normal in the south, according to Jan Null of Golden Gate Weather Services.

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San Diego Got More Rain Than Seattle in November

/in , , /by /FOX 5 San Diegoby Matt Meyer

Normally sunny San Diego got more rain than Seattle last month, a reverse of what residents of both West Coast cities have to come to expect.

The National Weather Service recorded just under 3 inches of rain with their monitoring station at Lindbergh Field this November, making it the wettest November on record for San Diego.

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Palm Springs Saw 8.84 Inches of Rain in the Last 12 months — That’s 154% of Normal

/in , , /by /Palm Springs Desert Sunby Keith W. Kohn

It was a wet and stormy year in the Coachella Valley and there may — or may not — be more on the way as the National Weather Service’s rainfall year began anew on Tuesday, a forecaster said.

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2019 Water Year Sees Above-Average Rainfall

/in , , /by /Turlock Journalby Angelina Martin

After a lackluster amount of rainfall throughout the San Joaquin Valley in 2018, the recent end to the 2019 precipitation year was a welcome sight for community members wary of drought thanks to plenty of storms that brought above-average numbers.

This past precipitation year, which began Sept. 1, 2018 and ended Aug. 31, 2019, saw 45.65 inches of rainfall — nearly 10 inches more than the historical average for the area or about 125 percent of average for the date.

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How Did California’s Rainfall Season Measure Up? Good, But Not Great

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Paul Duginski

Sunday is the end of the 2018-19 rainfall season in California, and you may have heard that the season’s precipitation totals were extraordinary. The figures show that the season was good — above normal — but not in the top 20% of wettest seasons. With the exception of a brief, early-June heat wave, Southern California has been relatively cool and moist with a thick marine layer through most of the month. The heat wave was more pronounced in Northern California, where the Bay Area experienced record heat, and those records will lift the state to warmer-than-average status for June 2019.

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