Rain is coming to SLO County! Here’s how much you’ll see over the weekend
It’s time to break out your umbrella and those dusty rainboots.
San Luis Obispo County residents will likely see a couple inches of rain fall over the weekend — the first measurable rainfall of this rainy season.
The storm developing off the Central Coast will likely start to creep in Friday, bringing a cold front and light drizzle to coastal areas, according to PG&E meteorologist John Lindsey and the forecast from the National Weather Service.
However, “Not too much excitement slated for Saturday,” the weather service wrote in its forecast Thursday as the first day of the weekend will likely be dry, cloudy and windy.
That’ll change Sunday, when “a reinforcing shot of cold air” may bring gusty winds to blow in the storm off the coast, according to the NWS.
“It’ll probably start raining in earnest Sunday at about 10 p.m.,” Lindsey told The Tribune.
Residents can expect showers through 10 a.m. Monday, Lindsey said.
All said, the Central Coast will likely see about 1 to 3 inches of rain through Monday, according to Lindsey and the NWS.
The rest of the week is expected to be dry, Lindsey said.
Lindsey warned that residents should look out for falling tree branches that may suck up all the rain and then break from the new weight.
He also noted that the small amount of rain, though great to see, will likely not do much to bring reservoir or creek levels up.
There appears to be no respite quite yet from the extreme and exceptional drought conditions the county is experiencing. Northern California regions, however, will likely see much more rain than San Luis Obispo County, Lindsey said.
Where SLO County reservoir levels stand
Reservoir levels in San Luis Obispo County remain very low and continue to drop.
Santa Margarita Lake is at 56.2% capacity, compared to 58.2% a month ago, according to the San Luis Obispo County Public Works Department.
Lopez Lake northeast of Arroyo Grande has dropped just about 1 percentage point since a month ago — it now sits at 30.1% capacity, according to Public Works.
Lake Nacimiento in northern San Luis Obispo County has remained at 11% capacity since mid-September, according to the Monterey County Water Resources Agency.
And Whale Rock Reservoir, a small reservoir near Cayucos, is sitting at 73.6%, down about a percentage point from mid-September, according to the city of San Luis Obispo.
This story was originally published October 21, 2021 at 1:41 PM.
