Real Rain (and Hail, too!) in Los Angeles

The rain gauge at Chez Bad Mom this morning, 24 January 2008. It reads ~ 2.3". (It is clickable if you want to read it yourself.) Unfortunately, I forgot to empty it out before this week's storms hit; I am not sure if there was residual moisture in the gauge from the rain 2 weeks ago. Things slip when you are fighting jet lag.

[Aside 1: If you got here by searching on Los Angeles Rainfall or LA Rainfall, you will find all sorts of interesting links to relevant rainfall statistics websites by clicking on the Meteorology tag link.]

[Aside 2: No, I do not work at the company barely visible in the corner of the photo. I picked up the freebie rain gauge at their booth at an American Meteorology Annual Meeting. The 2008 meeting is currently going on in New Orleans, but I didn't attend this time. If you can look at the program you can see that my work is being presented.]

Right after I took the picture of the rain gauge and emptied it, I set out to work. The rain was awfully loud. I looked down and saw little white ball bearings hailstones. Here's the proof. I know these hailstones are puny by Midwestern standards, but it is an extraordinary occurrence in coastal Los Angeles.


We are in for a few more days of rain. See how the jet-stream is sitting over us, steering the storms right into southern California? (Jet stream analysis courtesy of the California Regional Weather Server. Thanks, again, Dave!)

Now look at the 72 hour forecast. Over southern California, the scenario looks awfully similar, huh? It will be a wet three days.

Note that, by Sunday night, the winds jet stream will be from a more southerly direction than now. Because the lower-level air will likely also travel from the south, over warmer ocean water, we will probably get more (and warmer moisture). That is not good news for skiers or the snowpack that we depend upon for summer water supplies.

[Aside 3: The plots show Universal Time or UTC and LA local time is UTC - 8 hours.]

Did I mention that the rain gauge held another 0.25 inches when I came home from work today?