California Weather Blog: Rain returns to California as Ridiculously Resilient Ridge retreats; cautious optimism for February?

From the California Weather Blog:

Rain“Over the past few days most of California has experienced an atmospheric phenomenon not experienced in quite some time: measurable rain and snow has fallen across much of the state for the first time since early December. Two systems have moved through the state over the past week–the first dropped significant precipitation primarily in the Sierra foothills, and the second (and ongoing) system is currently bringing cold showers to California’s coastal regions. Between these two systems, the incredible zero-rain spell across nearly the entire state has finally been broken. While runoff into rivers and streams from these two events has been essentially nonexistent (due to record-low antecedent soil moisture and the relatively light nature of the precipitation), the observed rainfall has drastically lowered the risk of wildfire (and San Joaquin Valley dust storms) in the short term. In a rather dramatic contrast to the all-time record warmth measured in recent weeks, accumulating snowfall has been reported today below 2000 feet in parts of Northern California. … “

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