Drought Stricken California will likely pick up a Bonanza of rainfall next week, as the next series of storms hits predominantly the southern half of the state. The first in the series hits the South Central Coast Tonight with the focus unfortunately on many of the the burn areas. Being that the storm is coming in predominantly negative tilt, there will be a lot of Convection, which means Thunderstorms with localized areas of heavy rain. The focus areas along the coast and inland seem to be from Malibu NW to Venture County and just northwest. However, most areas will get their fair share. Folks that live within and below the burn scar areas should pay close attention to the statements from the National Weather Service.

C7 day totals issued by the WPC this morning showed between 4 to 7

inches of rain over a 7 day period in the coastal mountains North and East between Malibu to East of Pt Conception.

EL Nino:

Although the storm track appears to be coming in from a more southerly latitude, there is actually a split in the flow due to ridging over the Rockies that is forcing the storm track into Southern CA. That will begin to relax by the middle of next week. This will allow storms to hit the Central Sierra better mid week. As far as El Nacho goes, there is little or no evidence that El Nino has anything to do with the rain that is coming to Southern California over the next week. Why? Just take a look at the area between the Dateline and south of California to and along the equator. There is little evidence of large scale coupling of significant convection over the Nino Regions and the overlying atmosphere. The convection is average at best. Only a pocket along the dateline. In my opinion, these are just good old fashion west coast January storms! BTW..Expecting Mammoth Mt to pick up another 4 to 6 feet mid week. Snow is possible for parts of thr Owens Valley as well the upcoming week,

Dr Howard and the Dweebs………………….:-)