Nearly a foot of rain fell on one SLO County spot. Here’s what your area got
The latest atmospheric river storm to hit San Luis Obispo County brought several inches of rain to an already incredibly saturated Central Coast.
Rocky Butte, a mountain area northeast of Cambria, got nearly a foot of rain from the drenching, while most other areas in the county saw at least 3 inches of rainfall between Thursday and Saturday morning, according to the National Weather Service.
Over the same time period, the foothills west of Atascadero and Santa Margarita measured more than 7 inches, while Cambria and San Simeon saw nearly 6 inches of rainfall, the Weather Service’s data show.
The heavy rainfall caused substantial flooding across the county, forcing many residents to evacuate to safety.
This week’s storm was somewhat similar to the Jan. 9 atmospheric river storm in San Luis Obispo County. That storm also dumped several inches of rain on the county and caused widespread destruction.
During that storm, Rocky Butte saw 10.48 inches of rain, slightly less than what Friday’s storm brought to the area.
Rain drizzles were expected to continue throughout Saturday into Sunday morning, according to the Weather Service.
After briefly clearer skies on Sunday afternoon, the rain is predicted to return Monday in another atmospheric river storm, according to the Weather Service. Anywhere from about 1 to 3 inches of rain could fall across the county on Monday through Wednesday, with up to 5 inches possible in higher elevations.
SLO County rainfall totals
Here are the two-day rainfall total amounts ending at 6 a.m. Saturday, according to the Weather Service:
- Rocky Butte: 11.58 inches
- Santa Margarita: 7.52 inches
- West Atascadero foothills: 7.33 inches
- Cambria: 5.86 inches
- San Simeon: 5.7 inches
- Las Tablas south of Lake Nacimiento: 5.47 inches
- Lake Lopez: 4.72 inches
- Northern Lake Nacimiento area: 4.64 inches
- Highway 46 West: 4.18 inches
- Pismo Beach: 3.87 inches
- Davis Peak: 3.7 inches
- San Luis Obispo: 3.66 inches
- Cal Poly SLO: 3.53 inches
- Arroyo Grande: 3.44 inches
- Santa Margarita Lake: 2.82 inches
- Oceano: 2.63 inches
- Atascadero: 2.25 inches
- Nipomo: 2.09 inches
- Los Osos: 1.91 inches
- Paso Robles: 1.23 inches
- Morro Bay: 1.22 inches
- Shandon: 1.09 inches
- Carrizo Plain: 0.4 inches
This story was originally published March 11, 2023 at 10:44 AM.
