Fast-moving storm brings helpful rain to Monterey Peninsula – Monterey Herald
MONTEREY – A fast-moving storm brought about a third of an inch of rain to the Monterey Peninsula from Monday night through Tuesday morning, not only bringing useful moisture to the area but also slowing morning commutes.
“It was a nice little system that happened quickly,” said David King, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Monterey office. “It made a number of showers from Sonoma County and San Francisco all the way down to Monterey County.”
While the storm tapped tropical moisture through an atmospheric river, it wasn’t as severe as last month’s storm, which brought gusts of winds in excess of 50 mph and rain in Monterey County, causing minor flooding and widespread power outages. The Monterey County’s regional fire protection district responded to a mudslide in the River Road area Tuesday morning, with the scars from the River Fire likely contributing to the mess.
The Monterey County regional fire protection district responded Tuesday to a mudslide along River Road south of Salinas. (Courtesy of the Monterey County Regional Fire Department)
“There were a few pulses that were a bit stronger, but mostly we just had nice little rain showers overnight,” said King.
Monterey Airport received 0.38 inches of rain from the storm while Salinas Airport received 0.52 inches of rain. Watsonville received 0.93 inches of rain. The weather service said the rain-shadow effect was fully effective, with much of the San Jose area and the southern Salinas Valley receiving less than 0.05 inches of rain. King said Big Sur and the Santa Lucia Range saw just under an inch of rain in most locations.
“I can’t really comment on the word ‘drought’ because it really is owned by the state, but what we can say is that the atmospheric flow that came in late October and the addition from it certainly add to the fire concerns to disperse. ” he said. “It really helped wet most of the fuel in Monterey County, so any kind of fire concern is incredibly, incredibly minor right now.”
Rainfall totals vary from normal but are close to 200% along much of the Monterey Peninsula and Upper Salinas Valley, King said, while warning that most rain usually falls later in the year.
“We beat that compared to the current average for what we’d expect by early November, and that’s because we usually get our rainfall after Thanksgiving,” he said. “January and February are the big months to get precipitation events. That is certainly a lot of precipitation very early in the year and we are happy to take it, we do not give it back, but we are only at the beginning (the rainy season). “
The forecast calls for the area to dry out for the remainder of the week, with sunny conditions and highs in the Monterey Peninsula in the mid-1960s and lows in the mid-1950s.
“We know we’re entering a slightly drier period,” said King. “We don’t expect too much rainfall before Thanksgiving.”
A muddy field between Castroville and Moss Landing on Tuesday morning. (Tom Wright – Monterey Herald)
