8" in One Week?

Southern California on average gets about 14" of rain a year. A series of storms that will hit this week could drop as much as 8" in Orange County before next weekend:

The first in a series of Pacific storms will move ashore late tonight and belt Orange County hard on Monday, dropping roughly 1.5” to 3” of rain in different areas by dawn on Tuesday, says the National Weather Service. The system is the warmest of three major pulses that are expected to collectively produce 4” to 8” along the coast, 10” to 15” on the western slopes of the Santa Ana Mountains, and 20” to 30” of rain in the San Bernardino Mountains, forecasters say. Several feet of snow will fall above the 6,000 foot level during the week. There’s disparity in the projected totals because forecasters can’t predict the precise path the storms will take as they move through Southern California.

This kind of storm sequence has happened a number of times during my years in Orange County. It's usually preceded by a drought period in which the politicians threaten all sorts of water rationing and enact new regulations banning car washing or lawn watering. The pattern is holding true this time as well.

I remember a similar circumstance in the late 70's when we were hearing all sorts of doom-and-gloom from the water people with rationing almost guaranteed for that following summer...right before we had a 10 day period with a new big storm hitting about every other day. By the end of that blast the drought was over.

Unfortunately, most of the water that will fall this week will be wasted. Our rivers have been concreted in to ensure that excess water leaves town as quickly as possible, but that prevents it from soaking into the water table and underground reservoirs so we could use it later. I'm surprised that in an area that is basically a coastal desert we haven't figured out a better way to retain more of the little bit of rain we get every year.

If rain falls in the amounts shown above whole neighborhoods will be devastated in the fire areas because there will be nothing to hold those hillsides in place. Local streams and river will rage and if there's aren't at least 10 swift water rescues (or body recoveries) by the end of the week I'll be surprised.

And don't even get me started on the traffic...