2017 California/Southwest Weather Thread

[Guest happ]

From the California Sky, Measuring All That Snow  https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/03/22/us/california-measuring-snowpack.html?emc=edit_ca_20170323&nl=california-today&nlid=28580308&te=1

[Guest happ]

.SANTA ANA MOUNTAINS   

         STATION              PRECIP(IN)    ELEVATION(FT)
SANTIAGO PEAK                  0.75          5660
UPPER HARDING CYN         0.67          4254
SILVERADO MOTORWAY    0.47          3969
MODJESKA CANYON           0.44          1260
EL CARISO                            0.32          2600
EL CARISO RAWS                0.31          2660
SANTIAGO CREEK               0.29          1210
UPPER SILVERADO CYN    0.27          2880
FREMONT CANYON RAWS  0.20         1781
SIERRA PEAK                       0.16          3040
SANTA ROSA PLATEAU      0.09          1980
SYLVAN MEADOWS            0.04          1892
 

[Anti Marine Layer]

Next week. Mostly sunny with a slight chance of showers for Thursday.

 

What?

[Guest happ]

Nice day; windy this morning

 

71/ 51

[Anti Marine Layer]

California has an extra lag to their seasonal lag due to being near the ocean, but today was almost perfectly normal for the low and the high. Windy weather made it feel cooler than it was, however.

 

Saw the first sunshine on a north facing wall in about six months today, which is a sign that Spring has begun.

[Dan the Weatherman]

Next week. Mostly sunny with a slight chance of showers for Thursday.

 

What?

That's even worse than "partly cloudy with a chance of rain".

[Dan the Weatherman]

I picked up a measly 0.07" here in Orange from this week's "storms".

[Guest happ]

12noon

LAKE TAHOE, CA LGT SNOW  37  33  85 S15G32    30.11R FOG     WCI  28 
 

[Guest happ]

Mr Marine Layer, on 23 Mar 2017 - 7:11 PM, said:

California has an extra lag to their seasonal lag due to being near the ocean, but today was almost perfectly normal for the low and the high. Windy weather made it feel cooler than it was, however.

 

Saw the first sunshine on a north facing wall in about six months today, which is a sign that Spring has begun.

 

The "lag" continues through spring w/ only 8 degrees difference between Jan [mean: 60.4] and May [68.0]. Today was another "typical" March day except that minimums were a little chillier than normal.

 

71/ 51

[Guest happ]

Rain prospects look meager today and into next week. Appears March, unlike Dec/Jan/Feb will be basically a dry month in SoCal

[Anti Marine Layer]

More like a late spring marine layer event than an early spring storm. Pretty much the same can be expected for next Monday.

 

Rainy season typically lasts through the middle of April. May storms are rare, but not unusual, while June storms are pretty much unheard of, but I remember a couple of early to mid June storms that brought us rain or even mountain snowfall.

[Guest happ]

If we are too far south to squeeze out showers at least the series of troughs keep it cool/ partly cloudy when it could be pretty warm. Even this month's extended warmth wasn't really hot w/ only one day in the 90's here.  MrMarineLayer points out that the typical wet season isn't over in late March; we can expect several more storms next month and perhaps in May as well. The hope, of-course, is for stronger systems that can undercut or suppress the building Pacific subtropical high as it shifts north each spring. 

 

70/ 52

[Guest happ]

Snow Pack

[Anti Marine Layer]

Dense fog this morning, and no dense fog advisory.

 

We do not normally have dense fog with a deep marine layer, so where did it come from?

[Guest happ]

Ceiling much higher here w/ only scattered stratus this morning. Strong winds forecast tomorrow.

 

MrMarineLayer, Lake Forest elevation around 1000'

[Anti Marine Layer]

Ceiling much higher here w/ only scattered stratus this morning. Strong winds forecast tomorrow.

 

MrMarineLayer, Lake Forest elevation around 1000'

 

That is the easternmost part, the Foothill Ranch area. In my area, it's about 400' to 500'. Looks like today could be cooler than yesterday, despite the forecast.

[Anti Marine Layer]

From dense fog in the morning, which usually happens when the marine layer is crushed, to a reverse clearing pattern this afternoon, which only happens when the marine layer is deep. Don't think I have ever seen that before. Dense fog must have been very localized and not enough for a dense fog advisory.

[Guest happ]

March will end as a dry month, at least in SoCal. GFS is showing possible significant rainfall next week in NorCal. 

 

Sunday: 69/ 53

[Anti Marine Layer]

Boring spring weather pattern here. It is rather windy today. Spring seems to be the windiest season.

 

Hills are beautiful now, but in a few weeks they will probably be brown again.

[Guest happ]

Very windy starting around noon and continuing this evening.

 

75/ 54

[Guest happ]

A rain year to cherish

 

 

[Guest happ]

Sunrise @ Venice Beach this morning

 

[Dan the Weatherman]

Here is the breakdown of rainfall amounts by month here in Orange for 2016-17 so far:

 

September: 0.02"
October: 0.67"
November: 1.47"
December: 4.68"
January: 9.50"
February: 3.03"
March: a very measly 0.12"
=====================
Season Total to Date: 19.49" (July 1 to Present)

[Guest happ]

Checking records going back to 1995, this is the 3rd driest March [0.37].  Only March 2008 had less rain [0.12] and 1997 had no rain after mid-Feb. Like 1997, both April and May in 2008 stayed dry but like this year the rain total exceeded 20 inches. Hope the rest of spring turns wet w/ at least a few good storms.

[Guest happ]

Photo shows winter flooding continuing down river near Sacramento yesterday

 

Tuesday: 77/ 55

[Guest happ]

Graphic tells us what we already know in Southwest. NOAA 8-14 / 12zGFS shows heavy rain in NorCal mid-April

[Guest happ]

Warm afternoon; back to windy spring conditions tomorrow

 

84/ 55

[Guest happ]

There's discussion if April will be hot & trigger too much snow melt. But it is also interesting that there hasn't been a hot April since 1996 [80.7°] and 2006 was remarkably cool [66.0]. Between 1987 and 1996 April monthly max exceeded 80 degrees 5 times and none since. A dry spring hasn't necessarily been hot.

[Guest happ]

In the meantime it is snowing in the Sierra/ Lake Tahoe snow squall

[Guest happ]

There's discussion if April will be hot & trigger too much snow melt. But it is also interesting that there hasn't been a hot April since 1996 [80.7°] and 2006 was remarkably cool [66.0]. Between 1987 and 1996 April monthly max exceeded 80 degrees 5 times and none since. A dry spring hasn't necessarily been hot.

 

FWIW per WU

[Guest happ]

NNW winds are picking up speed [gusts: 35mph] this evening after a relatively calm day

 

75/ 55

[Anti Marine Layer]

Explosive marine layer growth this afternoon. Looks like it should be forced back out to sea by tomorrow afternoon.

[Dan the Weatherman]

In the meantime it is snowing in the Sierra/ Lake Tahoe snow squall

I wonder if that qualifies as lake effect snow?

[Anti Marine Layer]

Low clouds cleared out just as quickly as they came in earlier this afternoon. Wind is calm here now, but we are not in a wind prone area.

[Guest happ]

Very windy overnight w/ reports of 60mph gusts in metro LA region. I am sneezing up a storm this morning.

[Guest happ]

I wonder if that qualifies as lake effect snow?

 

Good question. Lake Tahoe sits in a bowl w/ mountains on all sides. I imagine that there are unique climate characteristics involved.

[Anti Marine Layer]

Not much wind at all here in Irvine.

[Guest happ]

Dew points in the 20's/ low 30's. Clear windless night could produce some cool minimums.

[Anti Marine Layer]

In some ways California has one of the most interesting boring weather patterns in the world. North of Point Conception, beaches are upper 50s to mid 60s and on and off foggy pretty much all summer long, while less than an hour away inland areas are in the upper 80s to low 100s at the same time. Same old same old microclimates every day, yet an outsider would be stunned to be roasting in 100 degrees in Paso Robles and drive to Morro Bay to freeze in overcast skies and upper 50s. Few other places in the world are like that.

[Guest happ]

March 2017

 

Max: 77.2/ Norm: 73°

Min: 55.5/ Norm: 53°

Mean: 66.3

 

Hi/Lo Max: 91/ 60

Hi/Lo Min: 67/ 43

 

CDD: 96

HDD: 52

 

Rain: 0.37

Year [jul-jun]: 20.07

Days: 3