2019 California and Southwest Weather Discussion Thread

[Reg]

Not sure what the KNKX radar is smoking since it shows heavy rain directly on top of me, even though it's currently sunny here.

[Anti Marine Layer]

Very cold and windy afternoon with occasional light rain showers. We seem to have been relocated to the Pacific Northwest.

[Reg]

A few more showers this evening, and a lot of wind. The most recent shower occurred while it was 44F here. 0.05" for today

[Anti Marine Layer]

Still looking quite stormy towards the mountains.

 

[Reg]

Just got very dark and cloudy over here.

 

We're currently being hit by a strong gust front in the Temecula Valley. Sustained 25mph winds at my house for the last 5 minutes. Some light rain as well, blowing sideways.

[Reg]

Temperature just plummeted from 52F to 45F and still falling. Wind chill is 39F. Mean-looking clouds above us, but sunny to the west.

[Reg]

Winds have calmed, although part of the sky remains shrouded in dark clouds and temperature remains at 44F. Rain stopped (0.02" here). Folks in Orange County, what does it look like east toward the Santa Ana Mountains this afternoon? I'm curious to know if you can see any darkness in my direction.

 

20 minutes ago here:

[Reg]

Found the culprit. Looks to have splintered off from the San Jacinto Mountains to the east, about two hours ago. It then quickly bolted towards us. Explains the gust front that preceded everything.

[Reg]

Amazing. I'm watching all online weather stations south of here (in the path of the front) undergo steep temperature drops accompanied by sudden strong winds, one by one. They're reporting rain as well.

 

Looking southwest just now:

[Reg]

Nice pics!  Dramatic dark roiling cloud bases.

 

Just had the same situation here -- sudden gusty winds followed by a brief shower that dropped the temperature sharply from 53º to 41º.  The NWS LA forecast discussion contained a useful explanation:

 

"Solar heating combined with a cold and somewhat unstable air mass

to develop some rain and snow showers in the VTU/L.A. County mtns

which spread into the adjacent vlys on northerly flow."

Thanks. It was quite a sight. So much so, that I went out driving around for a good spot to take some better pictures. I was pleasantly surprised to see a mostly-clear view of a completely white San Jacinto Mountain range to the east.

 

 

On another note, I'd like to mention that out of 18 days so far this month, I've recorded measurable precipitation on 15 of them. Only three days had 0.00" this month for me.

[Anti Marine Layer]

Here are some pictures from the freeway heading back from UCI to Lake Forest.

Just some light rain as these things always weaken on their way to the coast.

[Anti Marine Layer]

Still averaging 4th coldest for high temperature in Downtown L.A. Looks like it could move back up to 3rd or higher after this week. 10 days left.

 

Year Average High
1962 59.82
1911 60.11
1887 60.36
2019 60.61

[Anti Marine Layer]

The sun reached above 45 degrees today for the first time this winter. Spring is still about a month away.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Some beautiful pics. 

[Anti Marine Layer]

Still waiting on the latest CA Drought Monitor map after last week's big storm. Before the storm much of Orange and L.A. Counties were only abnormally dry.

[Anti Marine Layer]

Very cold and gloomy day, with lots of marine layer clouds despite the impossibility of any inversion. Still waiting for the rain.

[Anti Marine Layer]

Never remember such a cold winter here and it's not due to bad memory. It's been 57 years since we've had a February this bleeping cold. I'm only 40 years old.

Global warming, please hurry up.

[Anti Marine Layer]

It is raining quite heavily now. Hope to see some really low snow for having to endure this cold weather. However, coldest part of the storm is not until tomorrow.

[Reg]

45.6 F and lightly raining outside.

[Reg]

Heavier rain just moved through, 44.3 F and still falling.

[Reg]

43.7 F, still falling, on and off showers. 0.10" for today.

[Anti Marine Layer]

There was a very heavy rain shower sometime during the night, but at other times the moon was out.

[Anti Marine Layer]

Nothing is happening here. In fact, it's much sunnier than yesterday.

[Reg]

Nice pics!

 

0.04" since midnight, I can hear some occasional thunder in the distance.

[Reg]

Temperature is fluctuating in between showers. Last shower that came through, it was 49 F. Current shower, it's windier and 44.9 F and quickly falling. 0.08"

 

Edit: 43.8 F now and still lightly raining. I'm amazed how fast the temperature is dropping. Radar shows sleet falling approximately 8 miles WNW of me

[Reg]

Sleet was falling here about half an hour ago. 40.5 F, still lightly raining and temp falling

[Anti Marine Layer]

Finally got a brief rain shower. As usual, the coast is not supportive of convective activity here.

[Reg]

39.6 F and still falling. Rain is continuing with 0.18" so far today.

 

There it is - NWS San Diego just issued a Special Weather Statement covering eastern Orange County, Santa Ana Mountains, and western Riverside County:

 

 

 

Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service San Diego CA
453 PM PST THU FEB 21 2019

CAZ048-057-552-554-220200-
San Bernardino and Riverside County Valleys-The Inland Empire CA-
Orange County Inland CA-Santa Ana Mountains and Foothills CA-
Orange County Coastal CA-
453 PM PST THU FEB 21 2019

...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SAN BERNARDINO...RIVERSIDE AND
ORANGE COUNTIES UNTIL 600 PM PST...

At 447 PM PST, Doppler radar was tracking rain and snow showers over
Eastern Orange County and the Santa Ana Mountains. Very low snow
levels are occurring with bursts of snow possible as low as 800
feet, which will affect the foothills of Orange County and the
Inland Empire. One to three inches of snow will be possible with
this shower activity through 6 pm.

This activity will continue through about 6 pm and will likely cause
significant travel problems especially in the Santa Ana Mountains
and foothills. Pea size hail and gusty winds of 30 mph will also be
possible with these showers.

Locations impacted include...
Anaheim, Santa Ana, Riverside, Irvine, Fontana, Moreno Valley,
Huntington Beach, Garden Grove, Ontario and Corona.

LAT...LON 3393 11797 3395 11779 3413 11769 3417 11756
3390 11694 3384 11697 3379 11683 3374 11680
3364 11692 3354 11688 3355 11682 3343 11681
3343 11724 3348 11734 3339 11742 3347 11745
3347 11741 3351 11751 3339 11760 3375 11811
TIME...MOT...LOC 0047Z 229DEG 41KT 3393 11772

$

JMB

 

800 feet!

[Reg]

38.9 F, still raining. Wind Chill is 34 F now.

 

Edit: Sleeting again. 38.6 F, wind chill is approaching freezing.

 

Edit: Rain just got heavier. 38.1 F and 0.25"

[Reg]

Rain got real quiet, because it's mixed with snow now. 37.5 and still falling.

[Anti Marine Layer]

Things remain black to the northeast. No rain here for a while and the sunset was spectacular.

[Reg]

Things remain black to the northeast. No rain here for a while and the sunset was spectacular.

It's almost completely dark here. 36.9 F, rain/snow/mix is letting up

 

Edit: 36.8 F, Wind Chill is at 33.0 F, light mix still coming down

[Reg]

Rain/mix has stopped. Temperature is holding at 36.9 F and winds have died down.

 

I can actually see patches of clear sky to the west, I had no idea it was still daylight. That's just how dark it got here.

[Anti Marine Layer]

A police chase has become the main news event. Waiting to see Saddleback Mountain tomorrow if the clouds clear.

[Reg]

A police chase has become the main news event. Waiting to see Saddleback Mountain tomorrow if the clouds clear.

Santiago Peak webcam facing south just now:

 

 

Most of the precipitation has cleared out of my area, although it's still cloudy. Doppler radar was showing snow levels at approximately 1800 feet earlier, and mix down to 1200 feet. Temperature has risen a bit since the winds stopped (37.7 F, up from a low of 36.7 F at 6:02 PM).

[Anti Marine Layer]

Days are over 11 hours long now, the sun reaches above 45 degrees at noon, and it's getting colder and colder each day.

[Reg]

Just some high clouds with no precip in them floating over my area now. 0.31" since midnight, much of that having fallen as sleet/mixed precip.

 

Today was the closest my area got to snow since our last snow event on December 31st, 2014.

[Reg]

Its been a wet month. Look at all that precip:

 

[Dan the Weatherman]

I have never seen the Santa Ana Mountains covered in snow as much as this evening! Even the lower peaks extending north to the 91 Freeway were covered! I posted some pictures of the snow-covered mountains over on Weather West (weatherwest.com) if anyone is interested. My handle and avatar over there are the same as here, and a few others posted pictures of the Santa Anas as well. You can view the site as a guest, so registration isn't required, unless you want to post.

 

It appears I need a storage area for uploading pictures on here and I currently don't have anything set up right now. 

[Bonk]

We had snow in the canyons around 5pm. It melted when it hit the ground here in Modjeska, but did stick a bit in Silverado Canyon.

 

Here's some shots from Next Door of Silverado.