Storms soaked Central Coast over the holiday weekend. See how much rain your area got

Storms pounded the Central Coast through the holiday weekend, helping to douse a wildfire in Santa Barbara County and soaking San Luis Obispo County.

From Tuesday night, when the first storm began to move into the area, through 2 p.m. Sunday, San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport received 1.64 inches of rain, Oceano received 2.40 inches and Cambria saw 3.15 inches, according to PG&E meteorologist John Lindsey.

The Paso Robles Airport reported 2.31 inches of rain, while Atascadero saw just under 2 inches, coming in at 1.97 inches, Lindsey said. Rocky Butte, which received the most rain during that time period, reported 4.10 inches.

Caltrans closed Highway 1 at Mud Creek in Big Sur at 9 a.m. Sunday, following an earlier closure of Highway 1 at Paul’s Slide on Saturday evening. The agency had warned of closures in those areas on Friday, citing a significant storm in the forecast.

At about 9 a.m., a tree was reported as blocking the No. 2 lane of southbound Highway 101 at the summit of the Cuesta Grade, according to the CHP’s incident information page. The incident was cleared about an hour later. Several spinouts were reported on Highway 101 Sunday morning, though it did not appear that there were any injuries.

“We had pretty decent rain last night and this morning,” Lindsey said Sunday.

As of Sunday afternoon, the atmospheric river — a storm system that taps into a plume of subtropical moisture, known to bring heavy rain — appeared to be centered over southern Monterey County and Big Sur, Lindsey said. On Monday, the atmospheric river should move further down the coast and could be centered around the San Simeon and Rocky Butte area, Lindsey said.

On Monday, most Central Coast locations should see between a quarter-inch and a half-inch of rain, with as much as 3 inches of rain expected in areas north of Harmony, Lindsey said. The Central Coast could see another quarter-inch to a half-inch of rain on Tuesday, while rainfall amounts will be higher on Wednesday — Lindsey said the area could receive between three-quarters to 1.5 inches of rain that day.

A break in the rain is expected from Thursday through Friday afternoon, with another storm set to come in on Friday night, Lindsey said.

Here’s a look at rainfall totals from around San Luis Obispo County:

Rainfall totals from Tuesday night through 2 p.m. Sunday (in inches)

Source: John Lindsey, PG&E

This story was originally published December 1, 2019 at 4:43 PM.

Gabby Ferreira

The Tribune

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Gabby Ferreira is a breaking news and general assignment reporter at The Tribune in San Luis Obispo. A native of Houston, Texas, she was a reporter in Tucson, Arizona; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Palm Springs, California, before moving to San Luis Obispo County in 2016.