SLO County just had its first winter storm. Here’s how much rain your area got
The first winter storm of the year swept across the Central Coast on Sunday night — soaking most areas of San Luis Obispo County with at least an inch of rain.
Davis Peak behind Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant received the most rain with 3.11 inches, said John Lindsey, PG&E meteorologist. Hog Canyon northeast of Paso Robles received the least precipitation with a little more than a tenth of an inch.
Cal Poly received 2.04 inches of rain, the San Luis Obispo County Airport received 0.90 inches, Arroyo Grande received 1.12 inches, the Paso Robles Municipal Airport received 0.64 inches, Lopez Dam received 1.28 inches and Cambria received 0.51 inches.
Lindsey said the storm met his expectations in terms of rain, although wind gusts ended up reaching less intense speeds than predicted.
“The rain came through, but maybe the winds were a little bit weaker than anticipated,” he said.
The county is in dire need of rain after receiving almost no precipitation during the fall and throughout most of December. The Central Coast and much of Southern California are experiencing moderate drought conditions due to the lack of wet weather, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
The storm’s impact spanned a wide area, even bringing light snow to the Grapevine on I-5 on Sunday night, with more likely on the way, the CHP’s Fort Tejon-Grapevine office posted on Facebook.
Locally, the storm has made Lindsey more optimistic about the rain season, although the county has received only about half of the precipitation it would normally get in December, he said.
Lindsey said the rain was expected to continue through Monday afternoon before tapering off during evening and nighttime hours. More precipitation isn’t in the forecast for the county until next week — likely starting the night of Jan. 3 and continuing through Jan. 6, he said.
“The first week of 2021 is looking wet,” Lindsey said.
Here’s how much rain the county received Sunday night into Monday morning.
This story was originally published December 28, 2020 at 1:56 PM.
