Finally, first significant storm of 2022 is headed to SLO County
Dense fog and drizzly weather may give way to the biggest rain storm of the year so far on the Central Coast this weekend.
Not that that’s saying much. It’s been one of the driest seasons on record in San Luis Obispo County, according to PG&E meteorologist John Lindsey.
Lindsey said a low-pressure system and cold front will blow in cooler temperatures and moderate to heavy rain beginning Sunday evening and continuing through Monday.
He expects the storm will produce between 1 to 2 inches of rain along the Central Coast. That would be the most the region has seen since the storms in December.
Places like Cambria or Santa Barbara might even receive slightly more than 2 inches, he said.
The National Weather Service predicted a 20% chance of showers on Sunday after 11 a.m.
The probability of rain jumps to 100% by Sunday evening, according to the National Weather Service.
After an unseasonably dry winter, this late-March rain looks to be the biggest storm of the year, so far, Lindsey said.
“The current calendar year since Jan. 1, Cal Poly has only had eight-hundredths of an inch,” he said. “January, February, March historically are some of our wettest months of the year.”
It’s unlikely that the weekend rainfall will make much of a difference for the drought after such a dry winter, Lindsey said.
The parched soil is likely to absorb any rain that does fall and won’t create enough runoff to fill local reservoirs.
If the soil had adequate moisture levels, it could create the run-off needed to impact reservoir levels, he said, but the lack of rain over the last three months has left the ground drier than normal for this time of year.
Also, the rainy season begins to taper off in April, which makes it unlikely that we will see a spate of showers next month, he said.
The rain from this weekend’s system will move toward Southern California Monday night into Tuesday, Lindsey said.
This story was originally published March 25, 2022 at 12:40 PM.
