Showers Only Whet Appetite for a Real Rain

By JAMES M. GOMEZ

Dec. 29, 1989 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Scattered showers on Thursday brought little relief to drought-stricken Orange County, but the heavy clouds that rolled through Southern California dropped a light cover of snow on the San Bernardino Mountains.

The first rain of December--and possibly the last of the year--hit Orange County and the Los Angeles area early Thursday as a weak storm front traveled south toward San Diego, then headed east into Arizona, said Rick Dittmann, a meteorologist for WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times.

However, only three weather stations in Orange County--all of them in the south--got enough rain to report, said Lane Waldner, a spokesman for the county Environmental Management Agency. (The EMA meteorology station in Anaheim only records rainfall of more than 0.04 inch, he said.)

The three were the Santiago Peak station and the San Juan station in the Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park, each with 0.12 inch, and the Coto de Caza station with 0.08 inch, Waldner said.

Mike Smith, also a WeatherData meteorologist, said that Santa Ana received 0.03 inch of rainfall.

None of the rainfall Thursday was enough to break the area’s three-year dry spell.

“We’re not looking at anything significant,” Dittmann said of the storm. “It’s not going to be a drought-breaker by any means. . . .

“We can still have a wet January, February and March and end up above normal” for the season. “But again, it needs to kick in soon.”

It may not have added up to much in the rain gauges, but there was enough Thursday to make conditions dangerous on the roadways, the California Highway Patrol said.

Luckily, said Officer Angel Johnson, the accident report for Orange County only listed six fender-benders, Johnson said. That would be considered good news even on a dry day, she said.

“We’ve had almost no trouble at all,” Johnson said. “It’s been extremely light.”

San Juan Capistrano, at 69 degrees, had the county’s high for the day, Smith said. The high temperature in Santa Ana was 64 degrees, Smith said.

The daylong mountain snow flurries Thursday, though not enough to add much base to ski slopes, were a welcome sight to Big Bear ski resort operators, who have been relying on the man-made stuff to stay in business.

“If it’s doing anything, it’s lifting our morale,” said Pat Follett, guest relations director at Snow Summit Ski Area in Big Bear. “The change in the weather pattern is exciting. It’s really picked up people’s spirits and made them think snow. I just hope we get more of it.”

An upper-level low-pressure system will remain, forecasters said, settling on the southwestern coast and perhaps bringing showers to some areas over the next two days. Most of the area can expect to see clear weather, though, they said.

“As it looks now,” Dittmann said, “we’ll have fair weather over the weekend and into the new year.”

The total rainfall for Orange County since July, when the reporting period begins, is 1.04 inch, one-third below normal, according to figures provided by WeatherData and the EMA.

Waldner of the EMA said that the chance for rain in the near future may appear bleak but that meteorologists are hoping for a turnaround between February and April, which usually have more rainfall.

“Even though we are behind, we’re really not going to see what the season is like until next year,” Waldner said. “Things can change.

“Of course,” he added, “we can all do with a little rain now.”

Times staff writer Charisse Jones contributed to this story.

ORANGE COUNTY RAINFALL

Measurements are from the Santa Ana Civic Center. Records are kept for fiscal years, July 1 to June 30.

Rainfall the last 24 hours 0.03 inches

Year to date (July 1 to Dec. 28) 1.07 inches

Average, year to date (Dec. 28) 3.58 inches

Last year to date (Dec. 28) 5.51 inches

The five wettest and driest years on record, 1908 to present:

WETTEST

Year Inches 1940-41 32.14 1977-78 29.94 1982-83 26.87 1951-52 22.97 1936-37 22.93