Rain Dampens Spirits but Is Short-Lived

Two weeks of sunshine came to an end Monday as showers from a weak Pacific storm dampened Ventura County, reminding residents that winter is still here.

But besides sending people scrambling for umbrellas and wishing for dry ground, the storm that developed off the Northern California coast had little lasting effect on rainfall totals, according to Dolores Taylor, Ventura County senior hydrologist.

Of the six weather stations reporting measurable rainfall Monday evening, upper Ojai was the wettest spot with .16 inch. Piru was close behind with .12 inch.

“The rain is not supposed to do very much. That’s the good news,” Taylor said.

No rain is the best news of all for the burn areas of Ventura, Taylor said. The hills behind City Hall and along the north side of Poli Street may be green with winter grass, but the growth is little protection against heavy rains, and the rainy season continues until April, according to Taylor.

“Each day that we don’t have rain, the surface in the burn area dries up. But deep, deep down, from the 15 and 20 inches of rain we’ve had in some places, we still have some wetting going on,” Taylor said.

“The winter grass is loving it. It’s probably 2 feet tall on some of those slopes. But the roots may not be enough for heavy rains. It takes several months for the chaparral to get its courage up to go again after it’s been traumatized by being burned so hot and thoroughly,” she said.

National Weather Service meteorologist Rob Kohn said the showers will probably end by noon today.

Offshore breezes will keep today’s temperatures in the upper 50s to 60, with even warmer temperatures expected as the week goes on, according to Kohn.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

County Rainfall

Here are rainfall figures from the Ventura County Flood Control Department for the 24-hour period ending at 4 p.m. Monday . Oct. 1 is the beginning of the official rain year.

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Rainfall Rainfall Normal rainfall Location last 24 hours since Oct. 1 to date Camarillo 0.00 12.84 08.11 Casitas Dam 0.00 25.30 14.12 Casitas Rec. Center 0.00 24.50 14.09 Fillmore 0.04 19.71 11.44 Matilija Dam 0.08 29.35 15.97 Moorpark 0.00 14.01 08.80 Ojai 0.04 28.90 12.66 Upper Ojai 0.16 25.28 13.65 Oxnard 0.00 13.65 08.69 Piru 0.12 15.48 10.27 Port Hueneme 0.00 11.86 08.54 Santa Paula 0.04 18.24 10.62 Simi Valley 0.04 13.91 08.46 Thousand Oaks 0.00 14.44 09.13 Ventura Govt. Center 0.00 15.47 09.61

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