This morning, as the first drops of Storm #4 start coming down, the National Weather Service says Station Fire areas are still under flash flood watch, heavy rains expected today. The newscast we heard said that LAX weather station has recorded record LOW barometric pressure, which means there's a big one comin' our way.
Our resident weather guy, Bill Westphal, offers this perspective:
Pasadena Star News this morning reports that the National Weather Service says this latest series of storms has "underperformed". They have in fact produced less rain than forecast. As of 7:00 am this morning I've had only 5.23" of Rain at my Station since Sunday, far less than the forecasts. But that's not unusual, and in fact I'd rather have the NWS estimate on the high side so we all can be better prepared.
For the most part, there have not been any serious mudslides or debris flows. There was some debris which washed down from Millard Canyon affecting Canyon Crest. Overall I think the L.A. County Dept of Public Works has done a good job preparing our debris basins for these storms and keeping them clear as needed.
We certainly need the rain to ease our drought concerns and, all things considered, this past week has been pretty good. My Season Total (July 1 - June 30) is only 12.05" which is still low for this time of year. Tomorrow is forecast to be about 5° cooler and the snow level will drop to around 3000'. Snow is better than rain in the sense that it does not run off and has a greater chance of soaking in and helping our local water tables.
We're not done yet though. More storms are stacked up in the Pacific and the Jet Stream is bringing them right towards us. The weekend should be dry but there is a chance of more rain next week. Have a great day. Sit back and enjoy the weather.
