Rain Expected to Taper Off This Weekend

Showers were expected to taper off this weekend and give way to sunny skies by Monday as the Alaskan storm that dropped from one to three inches of rain on Ventura County moves eastward, forecasters said.

A 20% chance of showers remains today, with dark and cloudy skies throughout the day.

“We still have some lingering rain showers,” said David Gomberg, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. “But it looks like we will be back to more of the usual--warm and dry--through most of next week,” he said.

The storm brought up to 1.5 inches to the coast and inland valleys, and left two to three inches in the mountain areas, Gomberg said. Snow levels dropped to 3,500 feet.

Mt. Pinos, which stands at 8,900 feet, was dusted with six inches of snow, said Tracie Welton, a U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman. A break in the threatening skies could trigger an influx of people heading to the mountains above Ojai over the Presidents’ Day weekend, she said.

“We could get up to 10,000 to 20,000 cars a day,” Welton said. “The weekend brings a lot of cross-country skiers and people who like to play in the snow.”

Welton warned visitors to drive cautiously and carry chains.

The rain caused several minor accidents around the county, California Highway Patrol officials said.

But it also helped efforts to clean up an oil spill caused when a pipeline ruptured during last month’s earthquake. Crews have been working since then to clean up an estimated 147,000 gallons of crude oil that poured into the Santa Clara River from a ruptured Atlantic Richfield pipeline in Valencia.

“The water helped a bit because it flushed out remaining oil trapped in sediments and vegetation,” said Bob Schlichting, California Department of Fish and Game spokesman.

Schlichting said the remaining oil is difficult to remove.

“We’ve seen a light sheen of oil on the river now; unfortunately it’s not thick enough for us to recover,” he said. The remaining oil has also mixed with dirt and vegetation, he said. “There’s still oil out there that birds and animals can get into.”

County Rainfall

Here are rainfall figures from the Ventura County Flood Control District for the 24-hour period ending 7 p.m. Friday. Oct. 1 is the beginning of the official rain year.

Rainfall Rainfall Normal rainfall Location last 24 hours since Oct. 1 to date Camarillo 0.24 5.59 8.76 Casitas Dam 0.08 9.85 15.44 El Rio 0.04 7.03 9.86 Fillmore 0.00 6.22 12.49 Moorpark 0.00 5.43 9.53 Ojai 0.04 7.46 13.91 Upper Ojai 0.16 9.19 15.04 Oxnard 0.20 6.05 9.51 Piru 0.00 5.56 11.16 Santa Paula 0.08 6.71 11.66 Simi Valley 0.00 5.26 9.20 Thousand Oaks 0.04 5.56 9.94 Ventura Govt. Center 0.16 6.02 10.51