String of Storms Helps Offset Area’s Low Rainfall Totals

After months of scant rain, Ventura County is finally getting some much-need moisture from a series of recent storms, which officials said will help alleviate a rainfall deficit but won’t solve the problem.

Rainfall totals in cities throughout the county remain as low as 35% of usual for this time of year. Officials now hope for a long winter that will bring early April and May rains and raise totals to normal levels.

Rain in the eastern portion of the county gave way to gloomy skies and sporadic drizzle Monday. Little, if any, rain is expected today.

But one local meteorologist said the reprieve won’t last long.

By Wednesday morning, rain should begin again, continuing with nighttime showers. From Thursday through Saturday, the forecast calls for variable clouds with a chance of showers, said National Weather Service meteorologist Clint Simpson.

WeatherData Inc., a private weather service that provides forecasts for The Times, predicts partly cloudy skies with a chance of showers Thursday and Friday. A chance of showers is likely over the weekend, possibly continuing through Monday, said meteorologist Josh Bemus.

So far, mountain areas have received the most rainfall during the recent set of storms. The Matilija Dam area, for example, received 5.6 inches during five consecutive days of rain that began Thursday, said Dolores Taylor, senior hydrologist for Ventura County Flood Control District.

Matilija is currently the wettest portion of the county, reporting 9.42 inches since the Oct. 1 start of the rain season. Normally, the area would have received 16.79 inches by now.

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The rainfall deficit is worse in other parts of the county. Thousand Oaks, the county’s driest spot so far, has had 3.38 inches to date. It normally sees 9.53 inches of rain by this time of year, Taylor said.

The recent storms have brought 1.75 inches to Oxnard, 1.4 inches to Thousand Oaks and 1.69 inches to Simi Valley. Each of these cities faces a rainfall deficit, and officials welcome the recent precipitation to keep ground-water levels from plummeting.

Ground water has not swelled because of the rain, but the water from the sky means farmers don’t have to pump it from the ground, said Lowell Preston, manager of water resources for Ventura County. If farmers don’t drain ground water for crops, aquifer levels aren’t taxed by irrigation, he said.

“When that happens, you see an immediate response from the aquifer, because nobody’s pumping,” Preston said.

Aquifer levels will also benefit from the recent rain, as the Santa Clara River between Oxnard and Ventura begins flowing and the water is diverted to recharge ground water, he said.

Though the immediate benefits of the rain may not be substantial, Preston said every drop helps quell fears of a drought. “This isn’t going to make it up, but this is an indication we’re not going too far into the drought,” he said.

Meanwhile, fewer car wrecks occurred Monday than during the stormy weekend, which brought tangle after tangle on the county’s freeways. The California Highway Patrol responded to about 40 rain-related weekend wrecks, but officers had responded to fewer than a dozen Monday, said CHP Officer David Webb.

“It’s been raining for a few days, and everybody’s getting used to driving in the rain,” Webb said.

While the CHP had a manageable Monday, county fire officials were watching forecasts to gauge the possibility of mudslides and flooding. Officials have not responded to major landslide or flooding calls yet, said Ventura County Fire Department spokeswoman Sandi Wells. Whether hillsides give way and rivers brim over depends on how much rain comes and how quickly, she said.

“The slopes are holding together very well,” she said. “That doesn’t mean it won’t change if we get a heavy storm.”

Fire officials are prepared to patrol mountain roads and keep an eye on scorched areas, such as in the Upper Ojai--where December’s Ranch fire burned root systems that normally anchor hillsides during heavy rainfall, Wells said.

Monday’s drizzle left the Janss Marketplace, an outdoor mall in Thousand Oaks, nearly deserted.

“When the weather does go bad, only the real die-hards will come out and go shopping,” said Scott Owens, co-owner of Anomaly CDs N’ Comics.

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Most shops in the mall do not see much business when it rains, he said. Folks would rather go indoors and watch a movie at the Mann movie theater up the way, he said.

Tom Dare, 43, of Santa Monica was at the mall to buy a Valentine’s Day card for his wife. The rain did not bother him, he said, especially during the weekend when he was paying the price for an earlier speeding ticket.

“I’m a happy camper,” he said. “I had traffic school.”