Storm Not Enough to Damp Bowl Activities

A winter storm swept through Ventura County early Sunday morning, leaving roads slick for football fans leaving early for Super Bowl parties.

The storm hit the region at about 4 a.m. and was gone by noon. About half an inch of rain fell throughout the county, with slightly more in Santa Paula and Ojai.

Conditions should be drier today, with no additional showers expected until Friday.

This was the third time in a week that Ventura County residents opened their umbrellas and donned their raincoats.

On Jan. 25, a storm dropped a foot of snow in the mountains above Ojai and half an inch to an inch of rain throughout the county. The next day, hail hit Santa Paula and a quarter-inch of rain fell along the coast.

But despite the recent wet weather, seasonal precipitation levels are still below average, according to the National Weather Service.

“We’re a bit behind,” meteorologist Bill Hoffer said Sunday. “But if we get a few more storms like this one, we’ll catch up.”

In Port Hueneme, the average rainfall for late January is about 7 1/2 inches. So far this year, not quite 3 inches has fallen. And the seasonal average for Ojai is more than 11 inches, compared with the 5 inches Ojai residents have seen since Oct. 1, the beginning of the rain year.

Forecasters say highs today will be in the low 60s, and lows will dip into the upper 30s. The area should be partly cloudy and a bit breezy, but winds are expected to stay under 20 mph.

The California Highway Patrol reported no accidents Sunday morning, despite slippery roads throughout the county.

Local farmers were glad to see some precipitation, but said it wasn’t nearly enough.

Rex Laird, executive director of the Ventura County Farm Bureau, said citrus and avocado ranchers normally turn off their water pumps in November or December. But this year they are still on summer irrigation schedules because of unusually low precipitation.

“Until last weekend, we had only slightly over 2 inches of rain, and that’s not nearly enough,” Laird said. “We need storms of 2 1/2 or 3 inches several times over a five- or six-week period to make an impact.”