Weather in the Foothills

“It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.” ~ Howard Ruff

Had a call from my sis in Pismo Beach on Tuesday. Keep in mind it was a warm and mostly cloudless day here.

“How’d you like the rain?” she inquired.

“Rain? … No rain here,” I replied.

“We had a good half inch of steady rainfall,” she kind of bragged. We have an on-going competition – sisters will be sisters – as to who will have the highest annual rainfall total. I may be wrong, but I doubt it … La Crescenta, on an average, exceeds Pismo Beach by several inches.

You just never really know what a year may bring as climatic and weather conditions are exceedingly difficult to get right. I once heard a meteorologist comment, “An El Niño or La Niña is a guarantee of absolutely nothing.”

Scientists study various data including water temperatures off the coast of Peru to gather “hints” of what may be in store, precipitation-wise. Sometimes hints work amazingly well; and other times, not so much.

Normally, during a La Niña winter, conditions tend to be drier and colder than average across Southern California. During the 2016-17 winter, the La Niña broke these rules. It was one of the weakest La Niña qualifying events on record. And it didn’t even last the entire winter so it was one of the shortest, too! By January, signs of La Niña were dwindling. It became a remarkably wet winter for California, even though it was during a La Niña.

Looking at every water year (Oct. 1-Sept. 30) since 1950, the 2016-17 water year was the wettest La Niña water year in San Francisco, and the second wettest La Niña water year in Los Angeles.

Following the passage of a weak cold front at the beginning of the week, there’s been a significant shift in the weather. Temperatures are on the. Today, Thursday, and tomorrow highs along the coast and into the valleys are expected to jump into the 80s and 90s. Many areas may break daily high temperature records. Wind speeds are predicted to be of the advisory category, reaching between 40-50 mph; some brief gusts could be stronger. As is often the case, northeast winds – better known as Santa Anas in our region – result from the meeting of high- and low-pressure air. As winds blow through our local canyons, the air compresses with heat continuing through Saturday.

A cooling trend gets underway on Sunday, although above normal temperatures are predicted into early next week. There’s not a drop of rain in the 10-day forecast. But you never know what may happen … as there is a “guarantee of absolutely nothing.”

Sue Kilpatrick is a Crescenta Valley
resident and Official Skywarn Spotter for the National Weather Service Reach her at suelkilpatrick@gmail.com.