Rain Hampers Motorists; More Precipitation Likely Today

A soggy morning turned to sunshine Saturday but not before the cancellation of a children’s egg hunt in Ventura and reports of more than a dozen fender-benders on rain-slicked county roadways.

Temperatures were chilly all day Saturday, and by 6 p.m. rain had turned to snow in the mountains above Ojai. Between Friday morning and Saturday evening, more than an inch of rain had fallen in Upper Ojai, records show.

Over the same period, more than a half-inch of rain fell on Oxnard and at Casitas Recreation Center. A quarter-inch was recorded at the Ventura County Government Center.

The snow level today is expected to be 4,500 feet, meteorologists said. The Mt. Pinos recreation area, which recorded a low of 17 degrees Saturday, added 2 inches of snow Saturday to a 6-foot base.

Cloudy skies and breezy conditions are expected this morning throughout the county, with an 80% chance of rain in the afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.

High temperatures throughout the county should be in the upper 50s, and the lows will dip to the upper 40s, meteorologist John Sherwin of WeatherData Inc. said.

There is a 20% chance of continued showers Monday morning, meteorologist Rob Krohn of the Weather Service said. The rain may subside by Tuesday but was expected to return by Thursday or Friday, meteorologists said.

Low temperatures Monday are expected to be in the mid-40s and highs were forecast in the low 60s, Krohn said.

High and low temperatures in inland communities such as Moorpark and Simi Valley are expected to be at least five degrees cooler both days, Sherwin said.

“It’s just another storm system that has origins from the northern Pacific and it will continue the trend of below-normal temperatures,” Sherwin said.

The continued rains helped Santa Paula break a 125-year-old record, Krohn said. A recording station there has measured 40.17 inches of rain since the start of the rainfall season last July 1. The old record, set in 1987-88, was 38.60 inches, he said.

Early morning rain Saturday forced the cancellation of Ventura Community Service’s annual Cottonball Canyon Days, which was to include an egg hunt at Arroyo Verde Park.

The hunt was on, though, at the Conejo Recreation and Park District “Eggstravaganza,” but rain did force the cancellation of several musical acts. Officials were concerned about rain falling on electronic equipment.

Most of the rain-related traffic crashes Saturday were minor, but authorities in Thousand Oaks reported a four-car crash about 1:30 p.m. on the northbound lanes of Moorpark Road just south of Janss Road.

A driver traveling about 35 mph failed to yield and rear-ended another car, causing a chain-reaction collision, Sheriff’s Deputy John Popp said.

“It was raining and there was heavy traffic. The guy was looking off and then just couldn’t stop,” Popp said.

Thousand Oaks residents Dawn Walters, 33, and Karianne Hicks, 26, and Moorpark resident Patricia Maynard, 33, were taken to Los Robles Medical Center for complaints of neck and back injuries.