Topic: 190 days and counting... no rain, might be ending...

[SLOweather]

It's been 190 days without rain here in San Luis Obispo. We got 0.01" drizzle tip a while back. Average to date is 1.44" so we are at a whopping 0.7% of average.

Everything is pointing to a decent rain event for the county starting tomorrow, Halloween at 11AM for the extreme northwest, working its way down the coast to our area about mid afternoon.

From PG&E John Lindsey...

After nearly 190 days without any significant rain, wet, cool and unsettled weather will develop on Friday (Halloween) as a strengthening cold front moves through the Central Coast. Rain is expected to start Friday afternoon at around 4 p.m. Rain will be moderate to heavy as the cold front moves over San Luis Obispo County. Scattered showers behind the front will continue  into Saturday morning.

 This morning's models and charts are indicating impressive upper-level wind support, with the jet stream forecast to be centered directly over San Luis Obispo County. Total rainfall amounts in San Luis Obispo County are expected to range between 0.75"and 1.25". However, with this type of upper-level support, I wouldn't be surprised if rainfall amounts are greater than predicted. This storm system will produce the first decent Sierra snowfall of the season above 5,000 feet.

The NWS Special Weather Statement says, in part...

A FAST MOVING COLD FRONT WILL SPREAD RAIN ALONG THE CENTRAL COAST BY
MIDDAY FRIDAY. THE PRECIPITATION WILL MOVE INLAND OVER SAN LUIS
OBISPO AND SANTA BARBARA COUNTIES FRIDAY AFTERNOON...THEN SOUTHEAST
ACROSS VENTURA AND LOS ANGELES COUNTIES THROUGH FRIDAY EVENING.
SHOWERS WILL PERSIST INTO SATURDAY MORNING ACROSS THE REGION...WITH
A CHANCE OF RESIDUAL SHOWERS MAINLY ON NORTH FACING MOUNTAIN SLOPES
BY SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND LINGERING INTO EARLY SUNDAY MORNING. MOST
AREAS ARE EXPECTED TO SEE 3 TO 4 HOURS OF RAIN WITH THE INITIAL
FRONT...THEN TURN SHOWERY AS THE FRONT MOVES EAST. THERE WILL ALSO
BE A SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS OVER SAN LUIS OBISPO AND SANTA
BARBARA COUNTIES FRIDAY NIGHT AS COLDER AIR MOVES IN ALOFT. ANY
THUNDERSTORMS WOULD HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO BRING BRIEF HEAVY RAIN AND
SMALL HAIL.

You see that fellow Blitzies? Slight chance of thunderstorms!

We've recently added a couple more clients to the WeatherElement network, so it will be interesting to see how this all rains out.

Saratoaga Ken will probably get it first, so I'll be watching his site too.

[Harryca]

^ And I'll get what's left over after it passes Ken's house.   

Snow for the Sierra.  Yippee!

Winter Storm Warning
- Issued Oct 30 at 11:58AM PDT until Nov 01 at 5:00PM PDT by NWS
Sierra Nevada from Yosemite to Kings Canyon

Winter Storm Warning
- Issued Oct 30 at 11:57AM PDT until Nov 01 at 5:00PM PDT by NWS
West Slope Northern Sierra Nevada

Winter Storm Warning
- Issued Oct 30 at 11:11AM PDT until Nov 01 at 11:00AM PDT by NWS
Greater Lake Tahoe Area

Winter Storm Warning
- Issued Oct 30 at 11:11AM PDT until Nov 01 at 11:00AM PDT by NWS
Mono

http://ucweather.org/cawwa.php

[ValentineWeather]

Its about time. 

[W3DRM]

Hey guys, you better not steal all of it - we need it here in the Sierra and Western Nevada too!!! 

There is grass growing in the Carson River here in the Carson Valley. 

[Scalphunter]

It will come if this semi-permanent low in he gulf will just move south. It  just keeps spinning in an small circle as it breaks upp a new one  feeds it as they come out of japan.

John

[AWL]

37 days was my record with 9yrs of data. Ended 8/11/2011. I can't even image what it would look like around here with 190 days of no rain.

-Hope you get lots of the wet stuff 

Doug

[ocala]

I couldn't imagine 190 days Chris. I get depressed when I don't hear thunder for a month.
Must be a terrible place to be a weather nut.

[SLOweather]

I couldn't imagine 190 days Chris. I get depressed when I don't hear thunder for a month.
Must be a terrible place to be a weather nut.

It's OK. I grew up in west central IL, so I had my share of real weather. The extremes were fun to experience, but the ugly in-betweens were not (winter when it's bone-chilling cold but no snow or ice on the pond for skating, the end of winter when the melting snow is black and everything is muddy, summer between storms when it's just HOT and stupid-humid...)

Here we get 2 seasons: green and brown, (or fire and rain)...

Speaking of which... Halloween it started raining about 4PM, and was pretty steady til 10 or 11. We got 1.24" out of it, enough to bring us from 0.7% of average to 74%. Not enough to do much else, though. No runoff, the soil is still kinda damp. Maybe the grasses will start to sprout.

Next chance of rain is a week from Thursday.