Season’s Biggest Storm Wets Roads But Does Little for Crops

The season’s biggest storm dropped more than an inch of rain on parts of Ventura County on Tuesday, but local experts said the steady drizzle did little to saturate parched fields.

Forecasts for today and Thursday call for clouds, with a slight chance of more rain arriving late Friday or early Saturday.

The storm, which hit Ventura County about 8 p.m. Monday, had dropped about 1 1/2 inches of rain on Santa Paula and Lake Casitas by late Tuesday afternoon.

Ventura, Moorpark, Ojai and Upper Ojai all got about an inch, while Thousand Oaks, Port Hueneme, Fillmore, Simi Valley and Camarillo each received one-half to three-quarters of an inch.

“That’s a good soaker,” National Weather Service meteorologist Gary Ryan said. “At least we seem to have broken the extreme dry spell, and the door is open to a few of these shots of moisture.”

Warm, subtropical air from the Pacific Ocean brought the two days of moisture.

“A lot of people call it a Pineapple Express,” meteorologist Bruce Rockwell of the National Weather Service said.

But thirsty avocado and citrus crops need more nourishment than an inch of rainfall, said Rex Laird, executive director of the Ventura County Farm Bureau, a nonprofit lobbying group for local farmers.

“Basically, you’ve settled the dust,” he said. “You’ve washed off the trees.”

The storm soaked the ground, but it left no rain to run off the fields and replenish water reserves, so farmers may still have to rely on costly irrigation systems, Laird said.

Ventura County, which averages 15 inches of rainfall a year, is still well below average for this point in the October-to-April rainy season.

“We’re dry,” Ventura County flood control engineer Robin Jester said. “For the most part, there hasn’t been enough rain to saturate anything.”

Forecasts call for a 10% chance of rain late Friday and early Saturday with highs in the 60s and lows in the 40s. Clear skies are expected by Sunday.

The season’s dryness is a symptom of La Nina, a weather pattern that has prompted warm, dry temperatures on the West Coast and record snowfall along the East Coast.

For the 264 children at Lincoln School in Ventura, Tuesday felt like a holiday.

Some spent the rainy-day recess in the cafeteria watching videos and playing board games, while others did aerobics in their classrooms. It was the first time this school year that the children had spent the recess indoors, and for some kindergartners it was the first experience with umbrellas at school, Principal Valerie Chrisman said.

“You have to teach them umbrella etiquette,” she said. “They just don’t know what to do with them. They’re California kids.”

Fourteen collisions occurred on the wet roads Tuesday, twice the average number of accidents, California Highway Patrol Officer David Webb said.

Late Tuesday afternoon, a car driven by a 17-year-old Oak View girl skidded off California 126 and flipped over, causing minor injuries to the girl’s hand, ankle and face.

About 4 p.m., CHP officers responded to a head-on collision on California 150 between Ojai and Santa Paula. Two vehicles were involved, and at least one person was taken to a local hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, authorities said.

Names of the drivers and the cause of the crash were not immediately available, but authorities said the roadway was extremely slick.

Five accidents were reported in the Camarillo and Thousand Oaks areas, four collisions were reported on California 118 between Oxnard and Moorpark, and three accidents occurred on California 126.