The rain was coming down in sheets blowing horizontally along the ocean beaches Saturday afternoon, while inland skies were partly sunny and temperatures in the low 80s. I know first-hand about the rain because I was on the Long Beach Peninsula, and it felt like a wet autumn day.
Winds were steady at 15 to 20 mph with gusts between 25 and 30 mph. It certainly wasn’t typical of early August at the beach. The cold front moved inland, but little rain was expected in the western valleys. The associated upper level low pressure system will continue to spin around as it slowly drops southward along our coast into Northern California.
As it does, we will have somewhat of a chance of showers or thunderstorms until midweek before it drifts away. Some computer models have another low dropping down from British Columbia after that. I think it will be partly cloudy all week and humid. Highs will be seasonal, but some models indicate hotter temperatures are possible.
Rainfall reports from around the area for July are coming in, but so far everything is less than 1 inch, so I may skip our usual monthly roundup. I can tell you that Robin Ruzek of Lakeshore reported 0.66 of an inch, while Claudia Chiasson of Stevenson had only a trace. Our friend Roland Derksen in Vancouver, B.C., measured 1.12 inches. The usually wetter areas in the foothills were drier than the lowlands.
