October 18, 2015
California rain: The Good, The Bad, and it can be Ugly.
The Good.
Just an inch and a half of rain at 8000 feet and Yosemite Falls comes back to life.
The Bad.
State Route 58 west of Mojave, California. The rain and hail occurred Thursday afternoon. This picture is from midday Friday. (KABC via AP)
It can be Ugly
Interstate 5 near Tejon Pass after the Thursday afternoon downpour. (CNN)
Route 58 is the red line, on the map below, running due east from Bakersfield. Interstate 5 runs south from the “S” in Bakersfield into Los Angeles.
Doppler Radar rainfall estimate for the Thursday October 15, 2015 thunderstorms. The deep red is two and a half inches, the maroon color is closer to three. The white dot near the “P” in Palmdale would indicate amounts greater than five inches. The presences of golf ball size hail in these storms could mean these estimates are higher than actually rainfall.
So, an inch of rain and Yosemite falls is back in business. Two to three inches of rain and the main roads are a disastrous muddy mire.
New weekly update of ocean water temperature anomalies coming later today.
16SEP2015 29.0 2.3 17SEP1997 28.9 2.2
23SEP2015 29.0 2.3 24SEP1997 28.9 2.2
30SEP2015 29.1 2.4 01OCT1997 29.1 2.4
07OCT2015 29.1 2.4 08OCT1997 29.2 2.6
14OCT2015 later today 15OCT1997 29.2 2.5
Learn more in my latest e-book El Niño: The WILD side of the weather cycle…
What we know, what we don’t, and WHY you should care!
Wild Bill