Rainfall Totals for Mira Mesa, California

As promised, the rains have finally hit San Diego. For those of you watching the news, you are aware of some of the devastation caused by the heavy rains, mudslides, winds, and surf, especially those counties north of San Diego. We haven't seen this kind of storm in a loooong time, and my son and I are actually enjoying it! Just this evening as the brunt of the storm was overhead, he asked me if we could go driving in the rain. Naturally, I had to oblige as I love driving in the rain -- what a blast it was (yes, I did drive safely).

We also received a digital rain meter from a friend which we have been diligently monitoring every 12 hours since the storm started, from 6am-6pm-6am. However, I'm only entering rainfall totals over a 24-hour period. Be sure to check back daily as we continue to update it.

Rainfall Totals in Inches for Zip Code 92126 (will be updated daily as long as it rains)
Date	Daily Total	Cum. Total
Jan. 17,2010	0.02	0.02
Jan. 18,2010	0.95	0.97
Jan. 19,2010	0.58	1.55
Jan. 20,2010	0.81	2.36
Jan. 21,2010	1.35	3.71
Jan. 22,2010	0.29	3.99

Large Storm Headed Towards SoCal and San Diego

Looks like we'll be getting the heaviest storm I've ever witnessed here in San Diego starting this Sunday. According to the Special Weather Statement released by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), we could receive record rainfall! Check out NOAA's statement, below, and then my screenshot of this evening's weather report following this statement (those measurements are inches of rain, not snow!

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA 159 PM PST FRI JAN 15 2010 CAZ042-043-048-050-055>058-060>062-162200- ORANGE COUNTY COASTAL AREAS-SAN DIEGO COUNTY COASTAL AREAS- SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTY VALLEYS-THE INLAND EMPIRE- SAN DIEGO COUNTY VALLEYS-SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY MOUNTAINS- RIVERSIDE COUNTY MOUNTAINS-SANTA ANA MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS- SAN DIEGO COUNTY MOUNTAINS-APPLE AND LUCERNE VALLEYS- COACHELLA VALLEY-SAN DIEGO COUNTY DESERTS- 159 PM PST FRI JAN 15 2010 ...BIG CHANGES IN THE WEATHER NEXT WEEK... A SERIES OF STORMS WILL BRING PERIODS OF LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN AND STRONG WINDS NEXT WEEK WITH SNOW AT THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS. THERE IS STILL A LOT OF UNCERTAINTY ABOUT THE EXACT TIMING AND RAINFALL AMOUNTS...BUT THESE STORMS HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO BE QUITE VIGOROUS...AND BRING LARGE RAINFALL TOTALS TO THE LOWER ELEVATIONS AND HEAVY SNOW TO THE MOUNTAINS. THIS ALL WEEK LONG EVENT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO GENERATE RAINFALL OF 5 TO 8 INCHES NEAR THE COAST...TO 20 OR MORE INCHES ON THE COASTAL MOUNTAIN SLOPES. TYPICALLY WETTER LOCATIONS ON THE COASTAL MOUNTAINS SLOPES COULD RECEIVE 30 OR MORE INCHES OF RAINFALL. EVEN THE DESERT LOCATIONS ARE LIKELY TO RECEIVE BETWEEN 2 AND 4 INCHES OF RAIN. SNOW LEVELS WILL MOSTLY FLUCTUATE BETWEEN 5500 AND 6500 FEET WHICH WOULD CONFINE HEAVY SNOW ACCUMULATIONS TO THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS IN THE SAN BERNARDINO AND SAN JACINTO MOUNTAINS. AROUND 4 FEET OF SNOWFALL IS POSSIBLE AT THE HEAVIEST LOCATIONS. WITH THE RAINFALL AMOUNTS EXPECTED...THERE IS HIGH LIKELIHOOD OF FLASH FLOODING...ALONG WITH MUD AND DEBRIS FLOWS...ESPECIALLY IN AND BELOW RECENTLY BURNED AREAS. THERE COULD ALSO BE ROCK SLIDES ALONG MOUNTAIN HIGHWAYS...MAKING TRAVEL IMPASSABLE AT TIMES. THE HEAVY SNOW FALL AMOUNTS EXCEPTED...THERE IS A POSSIBILITY OF AVALANCHES FOR AREAS LOCATED BELOW THE STEEPER SLOPES OF THE HIGHER SAN BERNARDINO AND SAN JACINTO MOUNTAINS. THE STRENGTH OF THE JET STREAM DRIVING THESE STORMS IS OVER 200 MPH AND THE STORMS THEMSELVES WILL BE MOVING RAPIDLY ONSHORE IN QUICK SUCCESSION. AS A RESULT THERE ARE LIKELY TO BE STRONG WINDS THROUGH MUCH OF NEXT WEEK. OVER THE COASTAL WATERS GALE FORCE OR HIGHER WINDS ARE EXPECTED. OVER LAND...DAMAGING WINDS ARE LIKELY TO PRECEDE THE ARRIVAL OF EACH STORM. WIND GUSTS BETWEEN 50 AND 60 MPH ARE POSSIBLE FOR THE COASTS AND VALLEYS...WHILE THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS MAY HAVE GUSTS 70 MPH OR HIGHER. PEOPLE SHOULD STAY UPDATED WITH THE LATEST FORECASTS. LISTEN TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WEATHER.GOV/SANDIEGO FOR THE LATEST UPDATES OF FORECASTS AND WARNINGS. $$ SMALL/BALFOUR

Weather Report Screen Shot -- that's inches of rain, not snow!

Ocean Beach Pier

Inspired by my good friend Bob, and by the 15' waves San Diego has been experiencing the past couple of days, I decided to head with my wife down to the Ocean Beach Pier this evening after work. Thanks to rush-hour traffic, we arrived at the pier just in time to catch the last few rays of sunshine before the sun set over the horizon. Hoping to at least catch the Green Flash to make our visit worthwhile, I set the camera to Continuous Mode and rapidly shot off about 50 frames in rapid succession. Unfortunately, atmospheric conditions were not conducive to rendering a Green Flash :( Additionally, the pier was closed due to wave damage, so we decided to walk down the steps to the beach.

With daylight quickly diminishing, I scanned around for interesting subjects to "paint". Except for a few lonely people, the beach and boardwalk were rather empty. Seeing a lady walking towards us with her dog, I decided to "paint" a few pictures of her -- the "paintings" didn't quite turn out how I had pictured them, but I was pretty happy with the results nonetheless. After the lady with the dog passed by, a young man walked in front of us and I managed to get a couple shots of him as well. Below are two of my favorite photos from this evening.

Evening Beach Stroll with Dog

Lonely Beach Stroll