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For those who previously stated with confidence that wet weather would be noticed in January across southern CA and the SW: observe the current conditions, and the short range outlooks. No precipitation is in the forecast across much of AZ for the rest of the month, and only minimal chances in southern CA. If these short range forecasts hold true, this type of weather wouldn't even be considered "normal" ... it's below average for this time of year. So much for this super strong El Niño and the reliability of the so called "experts".
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I agree that the news media has made much to do about nothing. This El Nino hype is a bad joke. It's half way through January and we are at below average rainfall for this time of the year. So Cal has only two reliable weather forcasts, cold and dry and warm and dry. Am tired of hearing them make a big deal about big systems of low pressure out in the Pacific that end up giving us at best enough drizzle to ruin a newly washed car but nothing more. Let's just call it how it is. We're not getting any rain folks.
I'd say so. Especially the mountains where snow pack turns into water necessary for farming in the Central Valley and such.... I mean come on. SoCal is basically one big desert.
LA didn't record even a trace of rain from Dec. 9th 1997 until sometime in early/mid January 1998.
So even during that super El Niño episode similar things were happening.
There indeed was a noticeable lack of precipitation in southern CA & the SW from approximately Christmas, 1997 to the middle of January, 1998. In fact, most of January was pretty quiet in 1998 before February & March became quite stormy if I recall. Something similar happened during the strong El Niño of 1982-1983 when much of late December through mid January was dry.
You're forgetting one important factor, however. During the strong El Niño winters of 1982-1983 and 1997-1998, there were pretty significant storm systems hitting southern CA in December. In 1982, there was moderate to heavy rain & snow in central/southern CA (and AZ as well) as early as November. This season, November & December were mostly dry across the region. So there is a huge difference between this supposedly strong El Niño and the other two. This one is a huge disappointment so far.
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Originally Posted by Zoziee
I agree that the news media has made much to do about nothing. This El Nino hype is a bad joke. It's half way through January and we are at below average rainfall for this time of the year. So Cal has only two reliable weather forcasts, cold and dry and warm and dry. Am tired of hearing them make a big deal about big systems of low pressure out in the Pacific that end up giving us at best enough drizzle to ruin a newly washed car but nothing more. Let's just call it how it is. We're not getting any rain folks.
No kidding. What's really hilarious is the string of storms that moved through earlier this month: they produced some much needed precipitation, but all the meteorologists and the media were hyping it up to be associated with El Niño. In fact, they had nothing to do with El Niño! Back to back storm systems lasting about a week or so are very normal for this time of year in the SW ... nothing out of the ordinary, and no major flooding or mudslides occurred. Since those systems in early January, it's been mostly dry, and only minimal chances of any rain/snow are in the forecast for the remainder of the month. So much for January being the month for when we'd start seeing the El Niño effects.
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Originally Posted by chicagogeorge
I'd say so. Especially the mountains where snow pack turns into water necessary for farming in the Central Valley and such.... I mean come on. SoCal is basically one big desert.
Oh, come on. Saying that southern CA is one big desert is about as ridiculous as saying that all of Arizona is one big desert. Yes, there are vast deserts in much of southern CA & AZ, but the region is made up of many different geographic, topographic, and climatic zones. In fact, the heavily populated areas of southern CA (L.A., San Diego, etc.) have what's described as a Mediterranean climate, not a desert climate. Sufficient rain & snow are essential for ALL of California, all of the SW, and all of the intermountain west during the winter months. The drought is basically affecting all of these areas ... it's not just the Central Valley that is in need dire of water.
Oh, come on. Saying that southern CA is one big desert is about as ridiculous as saying that all of Arizona is one big desert. Yes, there are vast deserts in much of southern CA & AZ, but the region is made up of many different geographic, topographic, and climatic zones. In fact, the heavily populated areas of southern CA (L.A., San Diego, etc.) have what's described as a Mediterranean climate, not a desert climate. Sufficient rain & snow are essential for ALL of California, all of the SW, and all of the intermountain west during the winter months. The drought is basically affecting all of these areas ... it's not just the Central Valley that is in need dire of water.
I know the LA region itself isn't a desert. But most of SoCal is. My point is that SoCal gets very little rain to begin with so, yes, most of the rain, even in an El Nino year will be further up the coast of California.
Just look how much of SoCal gets 5 inches or less of rain annually.
I just looked up rain fall totals by year and found that during the 97-98' El Nino LA received 31 inches of rain. That's more than double the average (still less than what we normally get).
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