Summer thunderstorm shatters July rainfall records; thousands still without power
The remnants of a Pacific hurricane brought record-breaking rain and an extended show of lightning and thunder to San Luis Obispo County on Sunday as part of a rare July storm that also knocked out power to more than 10,000 customers.
Paso Robles led the way locally, tallying 3.55 inches of rain from the storm as of 4 p.m., a total that shattered the previous the record for all of July, which was 0.59 inches in 1950, according to PG&E meteorologist John Lindsey.
San Luis Obispo also set a new July record with 0.84 inches Sunday, exceeding the previous high of 0.46 inches in 1950.
“July is the driest month of the year historically, for both San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles,” Lindsey said, with an average of just 0.2 inches of rain, making this storm all the more unusual.
Elsewhere in the county, Templeton recorded 1.93 inches, Atascadero 0.82 and Cambria 1.34. In the South County, Arroyo Grande topped out at 0.88 inches, and Pismo Beach totaled 0.79.
And the wet weather isn’t done, Lindsey said, as rain showers and thunderstorm activity will continue off and on across the area through Monday.
The moisture will begin to dissipate by Tuesday, he said, and thunderstorm activity will end in San Luis Obispo County.
The thunder and lightning began late Saturday night and proceeded throughout the day Sunday.
It was to blame for the outages, when lightning struck power poles in North and South county locations. The strikes knocked out power to 7,396 customers in Paso Robles and Templeton, and 2,823 customers in Oceano, Lindsey said. Customers in Arroyo Grande, Pismo Beach and elsewhere also lost power.
PG&E crews, including extra workers brought in from outside the county, worked throughout the day to restore electricity to the affected areas, said media relations spokeswoman Jacqueline Ratto. She said crews would be working into the night, attempting to restore power to a majority of customers by midnight.
As of 9 p.m., about 5,800 customers in San Luis Obispo and northern Santa Barbara counties remained without power.
At one point in the morning, SLOweather.com reported as many as 79 lightning strikes a minute across San Luis Obispo County.
As of midnight Saturday, there were 1,929 lightning strikes in the Southern California region. Of those, 1,682 occurred below 3,000 feet in elevation, which explains why the storm was causing so many outages, Ratto said.
Lindsey said PG&E would like to remind everyone that lightning kills an average of 49 people in the U.S. each year and injures hundreds more.
If thunder is heard, that area is within striking distance of the storm. There is no safe place outdoors when thunderstorms are in the area, he said.
In downtown San Luis Obispo on Sunday afternoon, residents and visitors were happy to see the rain, even if it altered their weekend plans.
Grace Waters and Ariana Brandao, employees at Bliss Café in The Network Shopping Center, said they were enjoying the tropical warmth and humidity of the thunderstorm, an unusual experience in San Luis Obispo.
“California is one of the climates that doesn’t have summer rains, and to be able to experience that is a treat. I’m very excited about it, I think California needs it, and I just love the rain,” Waters said. “I was excited last night, I was taking videos on my roof.”
Brandao added that she took a midnight walk with friends to enjoy the lightning.
Jackie Jex, Simon Lewis and their two young children from San Francisco were camping at Montaña de Oro State Park when the storm struck.
“In the tent (you could) hear the thunder and lightning; it was interesting,” Jex said. “It was so bright and the thunder was so loud it felt like it shook the tent.”
Lewis added, “It was pretty intense.”
Though they said that a lot of campers packed up and left the campsite very early Sunday morning, the family intended to stay Sunday night and finish the rest of its camping trip. Dotty Hawthorne, a San Luis Obispo resident of 35 years, attended the Festival Mozaic concert in Shandon on Saturday night. Hawthorne said there was a gorgeous sunset as a result of the clouds. Then, dramatic lightning began as the music started, followed by mild thunder and a sprinkling of rain.
Hawthorne said the weather added to the ambience of the concert.
Wendy Smith, a Cal Poly graduate who has been in the area for about 20 years, said she attended a Festival Mozaic concert Sunday morning at the Monday Club when the event was rained out of its outdoor venue at See Canyon Fruit Ranch.
Smith said she didn’t believe the weather report when it predicted rain. So when she was awakened in the middle of the night by the downpour, she had to bring in everything they’d left outside.
Nevertheless, she was happy to see the storm.
“I think it is great,” Smith said. “We need it any time of year, so I was really glad that it was raining.”
All of the rain led the National Weather Service to declare a flood watch for San Luis Obispo County for much of Sunday. It expired at 4 p.m.
While San Luis Obispo Creek was running well higher than normal for summer, no flooding was reported in the city.
On the coast, the National Weather Service warned that large surf and rip currents will continue along beaches through Monday evening. The swell from the storm is expected to produce the largest surf — up to 6 feet — along south-facing beaches.
Mike Jones, owner of Az.hi.az.i.aM surf shop in Morro Bay, said the waves were pretty nice Sunday and that there were quite a few surfers in the water, despite the dangers of lightning. Jones is expecting to see larger surf when a south swell generated by the storm off Baja California arrives.
UPDATE, 8:15 p.m.
As of Sunday evening, about 7,200 customers in San Luis Obispo and northern Santa Barbara counties remained without power because of the storm. Approximately 3,500 of those were in San Luis Obispo, said Jacqueline Ratto, PG&E media relations spokeswoman.
UPDATE, 3:40 p.m.:
In downtown San Luis Obispo on Sunday afternoon, residents and visitors were happy to see the rain, even if it altered their plans.
Grace Waters and Ariana Brandao, employees at Bliss Café in The Network Shopping Center, said that they were enjoying the tropical warmth and humidity of the thunderstorm, an unusual experience in San Luis Obispo.
“California is one of the climates that doesn’t have summer rains, and to be able to experience that is a treat! I’m very excited about it, I think California needs it, and I just love the rain!” Waters said. “I was excited last night; I was taking videos on my roof.”
Brandao added that she took a midnight walk with friends to enjoy the lightning.
Jackie Jex, Simon Lewis and their two young children from San Francisco were camping at Montaña de Oro when the storm struck. “In the tent (you could) hear the thunder and lightning, it was interesting. It was so bright and the thunder was so loud it felt like it shook the tent. It was pretty intense.”
Although they said that a lot of campers packed up and left the campsite very early Sunday morning, the family intends to stay Sunday night as well and finish out the rest of their camping trip.
Dotty Hawthorne, a San Luis Obispo resident of 35 years, attended the Festival Mozaic in Shandon on Saturday night. Hawthorne said that there was a gorgeous sunset as a result of the clouds. Then dramatic lightning began as the music started, followed by mild thunder and a sprinkling of rain.
Hawthorne said the weather added to the ambiance of the concert.
Wendy Smith, a Cal Poly graduate who has been in the area for about 20 years, said she attended a Festival Mozaic concert Sunday morning at the Monday Club. The event was meant to be hosted outdoors at the See Canyon Fruit Ranch but was moved indoors because of the weather.
Smith said she didn’t believe the weather report when it predicted rain, so she was awakened in the middle of the night by the downpour and had to close all of the skylights and bring in everything they’d left outside.
“I think it is great," Smith said. "We need it any time of year, so I was really glad that it was raining."
Thanks to the downpour, San Luis Obispo Creek was running well higher than normal for summer, but no flooding was reported in the city.
UPDATE, 3 p.m:
Jacqueline Ratto, PG&E media relations spokeswoman, said that as of 2 p.m., about 10,400 customers in San Luis Obispo County remain without power. The most impacted areas are Paso Robles, Templeton and Arroyo Grande.
PG&E hopes to have power restored to many of those customers by 6 p.m.
Crews from around the state have been sent to San Luis Obispo County to assist with the power outages.
Original story:
The remnants of a Pacific hurricane have brought much-needed rain and show of lightning and thunder to San Luis Obispo County in a rare July storm that is setting records across Southern California and knocked out power to more than 10,000 customers here Sunday morning.
The rainfall has already broken records for the month in many cities around San Luis Obispo County, according to John Lindsey, PG&E meteorologist.
Paso Robles has so far received 3.2 inches of rain, significantly more than the past record of 0.59 inches that fell in July 1950.
“July is the driest month of the year historically, for both San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles,” Lindsey said, with an average of just 0.2 inches of rain.
The previous July rainfall record for San Luis Obispo was 0.46 inches, set in 1950. Sunday's rain is approaching the old record, with 0.3 inches measured so far at the San Luis Obispo airport.
Rain showers and thunderstorm activity will continue across the area through Monday, with breaks in the weather, according to Lindsey.
The moisture will begin to dissipate by Tuesday, and thunderstorm activity will end in San Luis Obispo County.
Lindsey said PG&E would like to remind everyone that lightning is dangerous and kills an average of 49 people in the U.S. each year and injures hundreds more. If thunder is heard, that area is within striking distance of the storm. There is no safe place outdoors when thunderstorms are in the area, he said.
PG&E is working Sunday morning on outages for 7,396 customers in Paso Robles and Templeton and 2,823 customers in Oceano, Lindsey said. Both were because of lightning strikes on power poles. PG&E does not have an estimate on when power will be restored to customers.
Lindsey said PG&E is moving additional crews into the county to restore power as quickly as possible.
At one point, SLOweather.com was reporting as many as 79 lightning strikes a minute across San Luis Obispo County.
As of midnight, there were 1,929 lightning strikes in the Southern California region. Of those, 1,682 occurred below 3,000 feet in elevation, which explains why the storm is causing so many outages and is having such a large impact, PG&E spokeswoman Jacqueline Ratto said.
This story was originally published July 19, 2015 at 8:31 AM with the headline "Summer thunderstorm shatters July rainfall records; thousands still without power."