With Rain, It Might as Well Be Fall

A typical fall day in Southern California has weather that can keep even the most skilled forecasters guessing--sunny and warm until you wash your car, then cold and rainy. But even though fall has not really come, the rain has.

There were reports of isolated sprinkles in Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, El Toro and other parts of Orange County early Monday, and forecasters were predicting wind and rain--and possibly even hail--by early today.

Atmospheric pressure is falling and “things are moving right in,” said meteorologist Bill Hibbert of WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times. Hibbert said the condition was the result of a storm system that had slipped away from the Gulf of Alaska and hit California at San Francisco. The tail of the storm was expected to reach Southern California late Monday night, Hibbert said.

The one-hundredths of an inch of rainfall recorded in Newport Beach Monday was not much, but then, rainfall is relatively rare for the month of September, Hibbert said.

“Based on data since 1951,” he said, “this is quite a bit of rain for this time of year. Usually, there is only one day with measurable precipitation in September.” Over the weekend, Hibbert said, many cities in the state got the amount of rain average for the whole month.

The record rainfall for September in Orange County was set on Sept. 25, 1939, when 4.82 inches fell in Placentia during a devastating storm. (On Sept. 21 of that year, 3.74 inches fell in Anaheim.)

As of Monday afternoon, a total of 0.07 inches of rain had fallen in Santa Ana since July 1 of this year. The normal amount for the period is 0.25 inches.

The rain could turn into hail because of the coldness of the present low-pressure system, said Bill Hoffer, a specialist with the National Weather Service. Air temperatures, however, have remained moderate--ranging from highs of 67 degrees in Newport Beach to 75 in Anaheim and San Juan Capistrano--because the system is in the upper part of the atmosphere, 15,000 to 40,000 feet, Hoffer said.