COUNTYWIDE : Forecasters Predict Rain, Wisps of Snow

A storm from the Gulf of Alaska is expected to bring rain to the valleys and plains of Ventura County today and a dusting of snowfall on area mountains, a National Weather Service spokesman said Wednesday.

The storm, which could bring 0.5 inch to 1 inch of rain along with thunder and lightning, was expected to subside to intermittent rainfall by Friday.

Temperatures were also expected to fall several degrees into the 50s or low 60s.

“It will be wintry,” said Terry Schaeffer, National Weather Service meteorologist in Santa Paula. “We thought that it would bring only showers at first, but now (we think) there could be a significant rainfall.”

The snow level is expected to drop to about 5,500 feet, he said.

Satellite images also show a tropical weather system moving north from the Pacific.

If the two systems merge, there could be more rainfall than forecast, he said. Meteorologists are also tracking a minor storm that could bring more rain by Monday. But it is still too early to tell whether that storm will affect the county, he said.

The rainfall, which comes on the heels of an unusually dry November, still would leave the county far behind normal rainfall levels for this time of year, said William C. Minger, hydrographer with Ventura County Public Works. That is despite a wet October that brought the county nearly four times the average rainfall for the month.

“At the end of November, however, we are running 50% of normal” rainfall, he said. The new rain “won’t make a dent” in the 50% figure, he said.

Rainfall season totals are measured from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30.