Think the Weather Outside Is Frightful? Guess Again

Your child’s school was closed. Your car would not start. A carpet of snow blanketed your spring bulbs. Brrrr! This is one wicked winter we’re having, right? Guess again.

Despite the unusually frigid temperatures that have chilled Southern Californians during the last 10 days or so, meteorologists say that overall, the weather in the Southland this winter has been just plain average.

“I guess with all the extremes of the past couple weeks, people forgot that the season has really been pretty mild,” said meteorologist Dan Bowman of WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times.

Sure, it’s been cold lately. Snow--the heaviest in 40 years--piled as high as five feet in the mountains north of Los Angeles earlier this week, while a dusting turned parts of the San Fernando Valley into a slushy playground.

Almost Balmy

But while the low temperature in downtown Los Angeles has averaged 10 degrees below normal for February, it hasn’t beat any records. On Monday--the chilliest day of the cold snap--the downtown low of 34 degrees was almost balmy compared to the record low for that day of 28 degrees, set in 1883.

And during November, December and January, the mercury hovered right around the historical monthly average in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and San Diego.

“It just hasn’t been a very remarkable winter,” Bowman said, adding that a warming trend later this month could quickly balance the brisk temperatures that have announced February’s debut.

It hasn’t been unusually wet, either. Despite the recent showers, rainfall for the year in Los Angeles is lagging about two inches behind the average of 9.16 inches. Statewide, the precipitation has done little to ease fears that California is heading into a third consecutive year of drought.

Lowest Maximum Temperature

Perhaps the only wrinkle raising eyebrows in the meteorology community lately is that the high temperatures haven’t been very high. In downtown Los Angeles, the temperature climbed to only 53 degrees Tuesday. Previously, the lowest maximum temperature for that day was 54 degrees, a record set in 1949. It happened again Wednesday, when the high of 51 displaced the old mark of 52 for that date recorded in 1895.

The cloud cover is to blame for this phenomenon, Bowman said: “If there’s surface heat, the clouds act like a blanket and trap heat in. But if the sun can’t get through in the daytime, it just doesn’t warm up.”

WINTER TEMPERATURES

Although February temperatures have been 10 degrees below normal at Los Angeles International Airport, the winter was just plain average----until the Arctic storm arrived.

Winter 1988-’89 temperatures compared to normal.

Black bars indicate the actual monthly average highs and lows for this winter. Gray area indicates the normal monthly temperature range.

Degrees Fahrenheit

average highs average lows Nov. 66 degrees 54 degrees Dec. 64 degrees 48 degrees Jan. 64 degrees 46 degrees Feb.* 55 degrees 46 degrees

* Feb. 1-Feb. 9 Source: WeatherData Inc.