This weekend brought San Diego county one of the season’s biggest winter storms.
A cold storm from the north on Thursday brought low temperatures and snow levels down to 2,000 feet of elevation. Then conditions warmed as an atmospheric river brought tropical moisture to the region.
Here’s how much rain fell across San Diego County during the five day period ending at 1 a.m on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
Although the number wasn’t huge for San Diego, the city has now received 9.57 inches of rain since the rainy season began on October 1. That’s only 0.20 inches below what the city averages from October 1 to September 30.
We fell asleep to the sound of rain Sunday night and early birds who awoke bright and early Monday heard the last bit of showers passing through San Diego County.
The overnight storm made for a wet early morning commute and resulted in measurable rain for the county. Those who are in East County passing El Cajon got more rain than the rest of the region. Elsewhere, the rain measured below an inch.
If you thought San Diego County was off to a particularly wet start to the new year, you’re absolutely right. The National Weather Service said with January, the region experienced its wettest month since February 2005.
Winter storms brought measurable rain to the county last month, bringing a rain total of 5.14 inches, according to the agency. The average January rainfall in San Diego is 1.98 inches, to give you a better idea of how wet conditions have been.
The Canadian storm that arrived late Sunday night and moved out early Tuesday left significant rain across San Diego County. Here are the totals for 45 local communities, through 5 a.m. Tuesday. The final snowfall totals aren’t in yet.
For a second consecutive week, San Diego County will get hit by a pair of back-to-back storms that are part of larger systems that will bring badly needed rain to California’s reservoirs and minimize the risk of wildfires. The polar jet stream has slumped to the south and is guiding storms to the West Coast like a conveyor belt, says the National Weather Service.
People don’t eat much alfalfa, at least not directly. But the crop widely grown throughout California and the West to feed cows across the world has become central to discussions about managing a future with limited water. That’s part of the larger debate over what’s being grown and where it goes, and even what people should eat to ease pressure on the water supply and fight climate change.
The city of San Diego and East County leaders have resolved a months-long dispute over a planned water recycling project, heading off a potentially expensive court fight over what to do with the plant’s waste.
Seventy-five years ago, on Dec. 11 1947, the 71-mile San Diego Aqueduct was dedicated and put into operation, bringing water from the Colorado River to San Diego. By 1949, 85 percent of all water consumed in San Diego was Colorado River water. Today, after conservation, desalination, and other efforts to add to local water supplies, some 70 percent of the region’s water supply still flows through the aqueduct system.
For the first time in 12 years, San Diego County has a new top crop, while agricultural value exceeded $1.75 billion, according to the county’s Crop Report released Wednesday.
