While waiting for our own storm, this from Cal

These are those amounts through January 10th. You can see why there’s been some flooding and reservoirs are getting filled up in central and northern Cal. This list is just those amounts above 15 inches during the first ten days1.  A map can be found here.

Graphic says up through just Jan 10th, and there was a little more after this.
Graphic says up through just Jan 10th, and there was a little more after this.

Our local model from the U of AZ indicates that rain should move in here during the afternoon.  Watch for interesting clouds (but aren’t they ALWAYS interesting?)

That model is suggesting that a half inch might fall here in the Catalina area.  However, note in the graphic below, pinched and magnified from that U of AZ model’s output,  that we are in a “dry slot” due to the southerly and southeasterly winds aloft today that put us in the lee of the Catalinas.   I would guessestimate that we’ll see, oh, maybe a third of an inch here in Sutherland Heights.

Predicted total rain by mid-day Sunday.
Predicted total rain by mid-day Sunday.

Yesterday’s clouds

Nice sunset bloom last evening when it looked like nothing was going to show. You have about three minutes to catch these sudden blooms due to thin clearing slots in the overcast to the west below the horizon:

5:42 PM. Here it comes!
5:42 PM. Here it comes!
5:44 PM. Yep, just two minutes later, "Thar she shows!" The cloud layer being illuminated is...if you care, "Altostratus opacus virgae." The stuff being illuminated is falling light snow.
5:44 PM. Yep, just two minutes later, “Thar she shows!” The cloud layer being illuminated is…if you care, “Altostratus opacus virgae.” The stuff being illuminated is falling light snow.
5:45 PM. Just about to end, less than four minutes from start to end. Note the odd linear streaks of virga on the horizon running S-N. Clueless here about why.
5:45 PM. Just about to end, less than four minutes from start to end. Note the odd linear streaks of virga on the horizon running S-N. Clueless here about why.

Farther ahead, a cold one’s still on tap, and the predictions are for an unusually strong low center to accompany this powerful cold front blasting in next Saturday.  Look for some shingles to come off the roof (note to me).

The End

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1It’s pretty immodest of me to point this out, gloating,  really, but I do want to do this, emphasize that it was mentioned here, I don’t know how long ago, that “20-30 inches of rain would call in Cal at favored locations” during the first two weeks of January.  It was just incredible, to go on about it.  Might be eligible for the Carl Gustav Rossby forecast of the year award, if there was one.  (Caveat: usually these over the top, “seat-of-the-pants” forecasts I’ve made don’t materialize…though I don’t know why I added that qualifier.  Kind of takes away from the glory I’m basking in right now!)

By Art Rangno

Retiree from a group specializing in airborne measurements of clouds and aerosols at the University of Washington (Cloud and Aerosol Research Group). The projects in which I participated were in many countries; from the Arctic to Brazil, from the Marshall Islands to South Africa.