Experts: 'Rainy Season' Won't Be
Updated 10:09 AM PST, Tue, Jan 6, 2009
Hopes for a wet winter in San Diego are rapidly drying up.
All the recent rain that region has enjoyed may literally end up being a drop in the bucket. Despite the fact that the the county's "wet season" has arrived, there is no rain in sight, and like the last two winters, this one may end up below average and drier than normal.
Climatologists are sticking to their earlier predictions about a strong La Nina this winter, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. La Nina is the opposite of an El Nino, and is marked by unusually cold water in the Central Pacific. The La Nina temperature variation drives the jet stream further north and away from San Diego, meaning heavy rain and snow for the Northwest and less rain than usual for Southern California.
Things had started out promising this year. With an unusually wet November and December, the county has logged nearly twice the amount of precipitation normal. Water managers had every right to be hopeful that the wet weather would continue, since January, February and March are typically San Diego's three rainiest months, providing the area with 40 percent of the region's annual rainfall.
The new year is starting off pretty dry for the entire state, and it looks like it will stay that way for at least the next week. This bad news is made even worse because the entire Southwest is in the middle of a major drought. Strict water conservation measures are looming unless the area gets a lot more rain in the coming months.
You can read the entire story and get a better feel for exactly how bad the situation in the Union-Tribune's article.
First Published: Jan 6, 2009 8:47 AM PST
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