Light rain coming to Southern California, with much colder temps and mountain snow later this week
This image was taken from the same spot as this one of a raindrops falling on a window pane (credit: Wikimedia Commons)
There are so many factors affecting any location in this world, and this weather is just one of them. These factors can be hard to predict. Some forecasts are in the form of probabilities based on a study of past weather patterns. Others are based on complicated computer models that use all sorts of variables to project what is going to happen. But one thing in particular is fairly certain: the wet season is coming to Southern California.
Right now, we are in the middle of a rainy season. The average rainfall is around one inch. But the moisture that falls here is not all rain. Southern California has a unique atmosphere that causes heavy rains here to turn into snow in a matter of a few hours. The process is called an atmospheric river. That means not only that rain is falling here, it’s pouring out from the skies all over California.
To keep up with all the rain coming down, the National Weather Service in San Diego has moved its office to a new location. As a result, the number of people in the office has now increased to 30. Most of these people work in the meteorological forecasting division that is a part of the National Weather Service, but not everyone works there.
The office has about 40 employees. In the next couple of days, another 20 people will be moved into the office, but by then the forecast will be very different. So even if you don’t think you’re in a hot spot this week, there’s still a chance you will be.
Right now, the office has a large array of weather information. It has radar that shows where the precipitation is, where it is coming from and what sort of storms are going to be forming. If there’s only one model in the bunch, it’ll try to use it and then go back to the radar to see what’s really happening. But that can lead to some inaccurate forecasts. Some models use complicated computer algorithms. Others use historical data and the average of past weather patterns.
As for the prediction that there will be heavy rains over the next few days, that’s probably right. But what is