Help Weather Forecasters Collect Data

 

Volunteers help National Weather Service forecasters by reading rain gauges every day. Photo courtesy: National Weather Service.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — The National Weather Service is looking for volunteers throughout California to collect information that will help forecasters predict weather, especially significant events. Each person will need a 4-inch rain gauge, the Internet, and a few minutes every day, according to NWS San Diego meteorologist Jimmy Taeger.

“Numerous locations around California, especially in the mountains and deserts, lack valuable precipitation reporting,” Taeger said. “Community Collaborative Rain Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) is a non-profit group of volunteer precipitation observers. They report rain, hail and snow as well as any significant weather as it occurs. Anyone can join, and it’s easy to report the information.”

Taeger said the CoCoRaHS web site is easy to navigate and has instructions for anyone to learn how to record an observation. The site also has daily maps of observer’s reports showing where precipitation fell the day before.

“It’s fun to compare the different amounts of precipitation that can fall in an area from just one storm,” he stated.

Taeger said the information is very valuable for hydrologists, farmers and many others besides weather forecasters.

If you’re interested in becoming part of the CoCoRaHS network from school, work or home, visit www.cocorahs.org to sign up. You can also e-mail Jimmy.Taeger@noaa.gov or call 858-675-8700 with any questions.

This article was generated from a news release.

Where’s El Nino?

By Julie Pendray

Idyllwild, Calif. — What happened to Southern California’s expected rain? It’s a question asked by many of us since January’s mountain snow and February’s warm dry days. Spring seems to have sprung. Trees are blossoming, squirrels are building nests, birds are chasing each other around the trees and bulbs are coming up.

File photo of Lily Rock, Idyllwild, taken from Humber Park. Photo: Julie Pendray.

But don’t count your chickens before they’ve hatched, National Weather Service is saying. March and April could bring heavy precipitation.

Those are generally the wettest months, according to Alex Tardy, Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the NWS office in San Diego, which covers the Southern California region, including Idyllwild.

“March is typically the wettest month on record for strong El Ninos,” he stated in a slide show presentation of weather models and historical data he published on You Tube today. “Even in a non-El Nino period, we could expect 4 to 7 inches of rain in the Southern California mountains.”

Slide from National Weather Service presentation provided by Alex Tardy.

He said models and historical data indicate “above normal probabilities of precipitation” for March. “This is not an indication of flooding, per se.”

What happened in February?

Last month was one of the hottest and driest Februarys on record for Southern California, Tardy said.

“The storm track basically buckled in February and went up and over most of California, not just Southern California,”he said.

Most of our region is now below where it should be for precipitation at this time of year, the meteorologist said. “Most of southwestern California is doing very poor, at about 50 percent of normal.”

Compared to the two strong El Ninos in 1983 and 1998, the precipitation this winter through February has been 30 to 50 percent of those periods in some areas, he said.

The ocean temperatures in the El Nino zone are still as warm as they’ve been all winter and they’re just as significant as they were in 1997/98, he added.

The storm track is what’s different.

“The storm source regions have been there but the storms are not making it this far east,” Tardy said. “In the past month, the storm regions have been going way too far to the north.”

The bottom line?

Enjoy the early daffodils but don’t put your rain and snow gear away yet.

To view the You Tube slide presentation by Tardy, click here.

Copyright Julie Pendray and SpecialsNotOnTheMenu.com

 

 

 

Late Snow in Idyllwild

By Julie Pendray

IDYLLWILD — This week brought welcome rain and even late snow to Idyllwild in the San Jacinto Mountains of Southern California.

Here’s an updated gallery of May snow photos from the mile-high village above Palm Springs. Click on one photo to see enlarged versions, then click on forward arrow to go through the gallery.

Manzanita hedge in snow, Idyllwild. Photo: Julie Pendray.

Into the woods, in snow. Photo: Julie Pendray.

White on white. Tara Jade storefront window. Photo: Julie Pendray.

Yellow flowers in snow. Photo: Julie Pendray.

A welcome sign greets visitors to Idyllwild on Highway 243. Photo: Julie Pendray.

Strawberry Creek, Idyllwild. Photo: Julie Pendray.

Strawberry Creek. Photo: Julie Pendray.

Someone drew a happy face in the snow atop a fence post in Idyllwild. Photo: Julie Pendray.

A rainbow among snow. Photo: Julie Pendray.

Snow covered manzanita. Photo: Julie Pendray.

Snow on flowering bush, Idyllwild. Photo: Julie Pendray.

Yardbirds truck full of firewood warms a snowy day in Idyllwild. Photo: Julie Pendray.

Fireside Inn in snow, Idyllwild. Photo: Julie Pendray.

Firewood in snow, Idyllwild. Photo: Julie Pendray.

Snow covered firewood, Idyllwild. Photo: Julie Pendray.

White on red. Snow in Idyllwild in mid-May. Photo: Julie Pendray.

White on red 2. Idyllwild, May 2015. Photo: Julie Pendray.

White on black. Higher Grounds CoffeeHouse patio, Idyllwild. Photo: Julie Pendray.

Wheelbarrow in snow, Lily Rock Native Plant Nursery, Idyllwild. Photo: Julie Pendray.

Totem pole in the center of Idyllwild. Photo: Julie Pendray.

Roses in snow, Prairie Dove, Idyllwild. Photo: Julie Pendray.

Red truck for sale outside Mountain Mike’s, Idyllwild. Photo: Julie Pendray.

Madonna and child shelter from snow. Queen of Angels Catholic Church, Idyllwild. Photo: Julie Pendray.

Snow fell around potted “Johnny Jump Ups” at Prairie Dove Boutique, Idyllwild, just before Mother’s Day, 2015. Photo: Julie Pendray.

Painted deer in Idyllwild, California. Photo: Julie Pendray.

Snow covered lupines, Idyllwild, May 8, 2015. Photo: Julie Pendray.

Painted deer in the snow at Idyllwild Area Historical Society, May 8, 2015.

Snow on succulents, Idyllwild, May 2015. Photo: Julie Pendray.

White on wooden church sign, Idyllwild. Photo: Julie Pendray.

Snow covered arbor, Idyllwild Area Historical Society. Photo: Julie Pendray.

These boots are made for walking in snow. Photo: Julie Pendray.

Snow on green motorcycle, Idyllwild. Photo: Julie Pendray.

Snow on firewood, Idyllwild. Photo: Julie Pendray.