Wetting the Appetite

A winter storm that passed through the region Monday slowed traffic by dropping more than a foot of snow in the mountains of Ventura County but made for some ideal surfing conditions.

An inch of rain fell in western Ventura County, while Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks had more than half an inch during the weekend storm that brought precipitation off and on for more than a day. Seasonal rain levels, however, remain far below average.

“It helped overall,” said Bruce Rockwell, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Oxnard. “We’re still quite a ways behind. But this obviously helped.”

The storm, which hit late Sunday afternoon, is gone, but a new system is expected to bring scattered showers through today. Highs in the mid-50s are forecast countywide, while the lows will dip to 42 in Ventura and 38 in Simi Valley.

By Wednesday, the mercury should rise a bit, with temperatures reaching the mid-60s, said Jeff House, a meteorologist for WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times.

Snow piled up on California 33 near Ojai, preventing cars from getting through early Monday morning. Caltrans officials said they never closed the highway, but did have to shovel snow off the road to allow cars to pass.

“Cars weren’t able to get through there because of the snow,” said Cindy Chilton, a Caltrans dispatcher. “But they plowed it all out, and it’s all clear.”

About 12 to 18 inches of snow fell in the Mt. Pinos area of the Los Padres National Forest, said Joe Pasinato, a forest spokesman. In Rose Valley, about 12 miles north of Ojai, nearly a foot of powder fell, and in the Frazier Park area, there was about 6 inches of snow.

Visitors are advised to check the weather forecast before heading up to see the frosted mountaintops.

“The best thing to do after a storm is to give things about a day to settle down so we can get things back to normal,” Pasinato said. “They will have a more pleasant experience in the forest if they aren’t stuck in a traffic boggle.”

While some lamented the storm, dozens of surfers fled to the Ventura Pier first thing Monday morning to take advantage of the swells.

Isaac Creighton, 26, said he watches the news specifically to look for storms.

“We are totally dependent on big storms,” said Creighton, as water dripped from his red dreadlocks onto his wetsuit. “If there is a huge storm in Alaska, we’re gonna have good waves here. A storm off Catalina is gonna produce big waves too, but they may be pretty messy.”

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Creighton of Humboldt and friend Hamid Martin made a stop in Ventura on Monday on their way back to Northern California after a monthlong surfing trip in Mexico. The pair predicted big, choppy waves, but when they arrived at the beach, they realized the surf was just right.

“When we woke up and saw snow on the mountains, we expected wind and whitecaps,” Martin said. “But we got down here and it was real glassy, and there were good offshore winds. The waves were good.”

But those who monitor ocean water quality for the county Monday warned that storm water runoff could carry dangerous levels of disease-causing bacteria.

“We’re advising the public to avoid body contact with all storm water runoff in the county,” said Richard Hauge, who coordinates the monitoring program for the county’s Environmental Health Division.

Hauge added that swimmers and surfers should steer clear of the beach for 72 hours after a storm ends.

Heightening the concern, a spill unrelated to the storm dumped 250,000 gallons of untreated sewage into Ventura Harbor on Monday afternoon.

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A waterspout reported about 15 miles southwest of Huntington Beach on Monday morning prompted the National Weather Service to caution boaters. The weather service urged boats from Point Mugu to San Mateo Point to remain in harbor Monday because of possible waterspouts and threats of thunderstorms.

But local U.S. Coast Guard and Ventura Harbor Patrol officials said they didn’t anticipate any problems in this area.

Ventura’s highways also fared well during the weekend downpour, with only eight traffic accidents reported Sunday night. That compares with an average of six or seven crashes with normal road conditions on a Sunday evening, said Officer Dave Cockrill of the California Highway Patrol.

One of the worst accidents happened just before 10 p.m. when 19-year-old Hilary Brill was heading northbound on the Ventura Freeway just south of Padre Juan Canyon, which is near Faria Beach.

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The Culver City resident lost control of her car and ended up caught under a tractor-trailer, Cockrill said. The truck unknowingly dragged Brill for half a mile until another driver flagged it down.

Amazingly, Brill sustained only minor injuries, Cockrill said.

Cockrill said drivers should allow some extra time when it’s raining.

“If you leave at normal time and get involved in a traffic backup, then you’re pushed to get to work on time,” he said. “And that’s when the trouble begins.”

Small amounts of precipitation so far this rain year have kept county farmers on summer irrigation schedules, said local meteorologist Terry Schaeffer.

“We’ve had the heart of our rain year chopped out of us. I hope we’ll get some more in February,” Schaeffer said. “We’re really hurting otherwise.”

(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 6 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 0.71 2.31 6.72 Casitas Dam 0.51 2.83 11.43 Casitas Rec. Center 0.71 3.26 11.37 Fillmore 0.00 1.56 9.35 Matilija Dam 1.06 3.33 12.69 Moorpark 0.00 1.29 7.22 Ojai 1.73 3.83 10.16 Upper Ojai 0.94 3.88 10.87 Oxnard 0.47 2.26 7.01 Piru 0.16 2.26 8.35 Port Hueneme 0.55 2.51 6.91 Santa Paula 1.14 2.47 8.58 Simi Valley 0.51 2.73 6.90 Thousand Oaks 0.51 2.26 7.41 Ventura Govt. Center 0.79 2.87 7.76

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