The Central Coast is soggy after a 3 day atmospheric river slammed the area with rain total up to 15"
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY
ROCKY BUTTE 14.93
CAMBRIA 11.66
SLO - CAL POLY 10.07
LOS OSOS 9.61
DAVIS PEAK 8.47
ATASCADERO W FTHLS 8.16
SAN LUIS OBISPO SCG 7.01
ARROYO GRANDE 6.62
PISMO BEACH 6.18
SAN LUIS OBISPO AIRPORT 5.76
LAKE LOPEZ 5.23
OCEANO 4.25
LAKE LOPEZ REC AREA 3.95
NIPOMO 3.00
LAS TABLAS 15.31
NACIMIENTO NR SAPAQUE 14.10
SANTA MARGARITA 8.12
SALINAS DAM 7.45
TEMPLETON 6.82
PASO ROBLES AIRPORT 4.79
ATASCADERO 4.76
LA PANZA 2.33
SHANDON 2.29
BLACK MOUNTAIN 8.44
BALD MOUNTAIN 3.19
SHELL PEAK 2.99
BRANCH MOUNTAIN 2.37
CARRIZO PLAIN 2.01
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY
CELITE 12.15
RANCHO SAN JULIAN 10.20
LAS CRUCES 8.91
LOMPOC 6.75
SUDDEN PEAK 5.75
BUELLTON 4.88
LOS ALAMOS 4.08
GUADALUPE CITY 4.02
CASMALIA 3.79
POINT CONCEPCTION 3.37
SANTA MARIA 3.28
PURISMA HILLS 3.16
VANDENBERG 2.96
REFUGIO PASS 9.73
TECOLOTE CANYON 9.43
SAN MARCOS PASS 7.24
EL DESEO 6.82
KTYD TOWER 4.07
UPPER ROMERO 4.03
JUNCAL DAM 3.65
FIGUEROA MOUNTAIN 3.57
DOULTON TUNNEL 3.49
TWITCHELL DAM 3.47
EAST CAMINO CIELO 3.25
MANZANITA MOUNTAIN 2.63
DON VICTOR 1.07
ALISAL RESERVOIR 11.50
CACHUMA DAM 6.48
SOLVANG 6.14
GIBRALTAR DAM 5.63
LOS OLIVOS 4.24
LOS PRIETOS 4.19
SISQUOC 3.33
CUYAMA VALLEY RAWS 2.40
CUYAMA FS 1.16
NEW CUYAMA 0.98
REFUGIO HILLS RAWS 8.07
GAVIOTA COAST 6.78
EL CAPITAN BEACH 6.69
DOS PUEBLOS 6.46
GAVIOTA RAWS 5.65
MARIA YGNACIO RIDGE 5.56
GLEN ANNIE RES 5.46
HOLLISTER 5.45
GOLETA CNTY YRD. 5.37
SAN ROQUE 4.35
SANTA BARBARA AIRPORT 3.88
SB BOTANIC GARDEN 3.87
SANTA BARBARA 3.04
COLD SPRINGS DB 2.91
MONTECITO HILLS 2.86
SANTA BARBARA FD 2.72
SUMMERLAND 2.08
CARPINTERIA 1.58
So, that is next? A dry weekend is on tap. I do think some areas of night and morning low clouds could develop over the next few days in wind sheltered locations, the interior valleys have the best chance of this but coastal valleys could see it as well. Temperatures slowly recover over the weekend and Monday.
Another storm system is on the way Tuesday. It will not be anywhere near as impactful as the last but certainly more than a few drops. I think .25-1.5" of rain is possible with the lower totals being inland and south. After that it appears we'll enter another dry run in February which is statistically our wettest month in terms of average. Stay tuned for more refinement on this system there are some modeling differences on intensity and timing.
The storm clearly put the Central Coast back to a surplus for the month of January.
But some locations are still short for the season, which began Oct. 1st. Paso Robles has 6.13" of rain for the season which is still .61" behind average. Santa Maria has 5.59" for the season, still .91" behind average. Santa Barbara airport has 5.90" for the season, still 2.56" behind average. (that's as much number crunching I have done to the moment)
Interestingly, we'll actually fall further behind seasonal averages if we hit a dry run in February. But I'll say this, averages in California are misleading. There is high variability in rain seasons from absolute soakers to very dry, in other words we very rarely hit average. What may be becoming more common is that individual seasons may feature more boom and bust cycles like we saw this year, we could near averages but get there thru long dry-runs and wet storms.
