Posted on 01/25/2008 9:32:25 AM PST by NormsRevenge
A powerful winter storm that unleashed a thick blanket of mountain snow, heavy rain and at least one tornado pounded Southern California for a fifth straight day Friday.
Some areas had received more rain in the storm than they did the entire year before, National Weather Service meteorologist Jamie Meier said, though experts said the moisture would do little to improve local water supplies.
By Friday morning, Long Beach Airport had received 2.76 inches of rain, compared to 2.1 inches over the previous 12 months, Meier said. Downtown Los Angeles had received 2.54 inches and Gibraltar Dam near Santa Barbara was drenched with 7.56 inches.
A flash flood warning was in effect early Friday in Los Angeles in areas around Griffith Park that were denuded by last year's wildfires.
Higher up, Mountain High ski resort received 18 inches of snow, but was forced to close its slopes Thursday due to high winds. The resort said on its Web site it would reopen Friday.
The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for the Santa Barbara County mountains through 10 p.m. Friday. The snow level was expected to drop to between 2,000 and 3,000 feet Thursday night, and down to 1,500 feet during heavier showers or thunderstorms.
At least one waterspout from the Pacific made landfall Thursday night, the National Weather Service said. The tornado tore the roof off of a building at Naval Base Ventura County in Point Mugu, meteorologist Curt Kaplan said.
Vance Vasquez, a base spokesman, said debris was scattered across the runway and "a good portion" of the roof was torn from Hangar 351, which houses aircraft. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
The storm had forced the closure of Interstate 5 late Wednesday on each side of the Grapevine section of Tejon Pass, which soars to an elevation of more than 4,000 feet between the Los Angeles Basin and the San Joaquin Valley. Hundreds of trucks and cars were stuck along a 40-mile stretch of the major north-south artery but most had been guided out by Thursday morning, the California Highway Patrol said.
A roughly 40-mile stretch of the icy interstate stayed closed until Friday morning after overnight rains helped clear snow on the road, CHP Officer David Porter said.
In Orange County, crews placed safety barriers against several homes in fire-scarred Modjeska Canyon Thursday.
"The rain resulted in a few minor debris flows behind a few houses but as far as I know there was no structural damage," Capt. Mike Blawn of the Orange County Fire Authority said.
Authorities are concerned about another storm forecast to hit the area over the weekend. Forecasters are predicting 4-6 inches to hit south and southwest facing mountain slopes between Saturday night and Sunday morning.
Heavy rain and hail prompted the Santa Anita horse track in Arcadia to cancel races Thursday, the fourth time this month. Its synthetic track has had drainage problems.
The storm was not expected to improve local water supplies. One of the driest rain seasons on record left reservoirs so low last year that several cities called for voluntary water conservation
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Meanwhile, In LA
Flash flood warning issued for parts of Los Angeles AP http://www.bakersfield.com/119/story/344564.html
The National Weather Service has extended a flash flood warning for parts of Los Angeles that were denuded in last year's wildfires.
Meteorologist Curt Kaplan says the warning remains in effect for the Barham area near Hollywood, and for Griffith Park, until 7:30 a.m. Friday.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
It never rains in sunny California...?????
In TN we’re singing...
Walking in the sunshine,
Sing a little sunshine song...
:)
Bbut, according to my kool-aid drinking brother-in-law, (who’s a teacher) gw is responsible for these extreme weather events..... what a maroon he is.
Rev. Gore ... paging rev. Gore ... call your office for a speciel memo .... rev. Gore .... paging rev. Gore ...............................................................................
Why not?
...storm was not expected to improve local water supplies
Why not?
It’s raining where the reservoirs ain’t? It should make a lot of snow either way
This rain is wonderful and very much needed.
The deserts this spring will be spectacular.
bookmark
I just checked weather.com and it reported no rain in Death Valley from these storms yet. There may be some isolated showers today and some rain on Sunday though.
Every ten/eleven years this happens in S. California. It always has. It should be expected, but is always treated as a great surprise, and never, never is there NOT the comment about “...storm was not expected to improve local water supplies.”
With the increased Snowfall, as well the rainfall, the water supplies will be quite fine...as usual during these ten/eleven year cyclical weather events.
Actually I’ll stick my neck out and say that over the next four years it’s a sure bet we’ll have more rainfall, but each year a little less than the previous until we get into the fifth through seventh years in which the rainfall will be of unpredictable quantity before we once again go into about three to four years of either miniscule, or no rain at all. But on the tenth to eleventh year after that, the rains will pour, and the whole cycle begins once again.
Some say it’s in conjunction with known cyclical Sun activity. OK, Whatever, It’s the way it is.
~~Anthropogenic Global Warming ™ ping~~
Get him a copy of Michael Crichton’s ‘State of Fear’...
This rain is wonderful and very much needed.
The deserts this spring will be spectacular.
I don’t know about Death Valley, but the rest of our deserts are getting drenched.
You’ve been deprived of global warming!
I’d sue AlGore...
and here in alabama I’m heading to the senior bowl tomorrow with cold and rain predicted...think i’ll go to a sports bar next year - this is second year in a row it’s been cold and wet.....
The rains were good and there is more predicted for tonight.....bright sunshine right now though....
windy and a little blue sky and dry for now..,, more tomorrow coming up from the south..
it started getting wet here a few minutes ago..
raining in orange county
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