The weatherman’s sure

December 18, 2010 National Weather Service icons for Altadena sum up forecasts for heavy rains across Greater Los Angeles and Southern California this weekend. Click on the image to be taken to the National Weather Service and latest flood advisories.

Heat wave

The National Weather Service on Sunday issued a heat advisory for Southern California lasting through Thursday. During the peak of it, valleys could range from 98-108 degrees F, lower mountains 96-107, Antelope Valley 102-110 and the inland coastal plain 90-98.

La Niña watch begins

After 16.36* inches of rain recorded for downtown Los Angeles from June 2009-June 2010, ocean conditions indicate a transition from the mildly wet El Niño system that gave Southern California a slightly better than average rainfall year to a dry La Niña one, according to the National Weather Service. An experimental and unofficial outlook map set issued by its Climate Prediction Center lays out a hot and dry 2010/11. Jet Propulsion Laboratory oceanographer Bill Patzert is already betting on a dry La Niña 2010/11 season. “Two years of El Niño are just such a low probability,” he said. “Six out of ten years are dry. I wish I had those odds in Vegas.” For those who think in terms of “normal” rainfall for Los Angeles, he added, “Normal is a cycle on a washing machine.”

*From the NWS California Nevada Forecast Center. NWS Los Angeles / Oxnard records …

Rain likely

Click here for your forecast. Graphic: South Australia Water.

“Upper level low”

Call me Timon, but I love it when it rains on the Oscars, second only to when it rains on the Rose Parade. Soaked joggers in the marathon are a poor substitute for bedraggled floats and movie stars. The misanthropists among us will need to cross our fingers that rains predicted for Saturday will extend into Sunday. Click on the map to be taken to the National Weather Service, then fill in your zip code for your exact local forecast. Or click here to be taken to Ken Clark’s AccuWeather forecast. “Rain and snow will gradually develop Friday and Friday night across California,” he writes, “and as the upper-level low moves inland Saturday across the southern third of California, thunderstorms could occur as well.”

« go backkeep looking »
  • After the lawn


  • As you were saying: Comments

  • As I was saying: Recent posts

  • Garden blogs


  • Contact

    Emily Green by e-mail at emily.green [at] mac.com
  • Categories