[env-trinity] Record Searchlight- North state keeps dry while deluge hits south

[Tom Stokely]

North state keeps dry while deluge hits south 
By Scott Mobley, Record Searchlight
March 1, 2005 

West Coast weather flip-flopped in February. The farther south you went, the more it poured. 

Last month brought Redding nearly twice its typical February sun and about half its usual rainfall. High-country snow banks eroded. Mount Shasta's ice rink puddled. 

In the far northern Sacramento Valley, mild afternoons coaxed fruit trees from their brief hibernation. And the long winter nights could muster no frost to rebuff these early blooms. Redding's municipal airport sees six sub-freezing nights in a typical February. 

Meanwhile, another round of fierce downpours doused Southern California, where Los Angeles expects to wince through its wettest water year in history. And famously soggy Seattle saw less than an inch of rain in a month that usually brings at least seven. 

      February rainfall
      Here are preliminary February and season-to-date precipitation totals for selected north state locations, according to the California Department of Water Resources and the National Weather Service. The water season runs July 1 to June 30. Totals are in inches: 

      Mount Shasta 
      . February: 2.99 
      . Season to date: 28.44 

      Lakeshore 
      . February: 6.88 
      . Season to date: 45.41 

      Shasta Dam 
      . February: 5.68 
      . Season to date: 38.73 

      Brandy Creek 
      . February: 6.72 
      . Season to date: 48.61 

      Weaverville 
      . February: 3.16 
      . Season to date: 22.21 

      West Redding Fire Station 
      . February: 3.76 
      . Season to date: 30.93 

      Redding airport 
      . February: 2.97 
      . Season to date: 25.95 

      Shingletown 
      . February: 4.48 
      . Season to date: 21.68 

      Red Bluff airport 
      . February: 2.63 
      . Season to date: 19.88 
     

March promises more of the same mild, dry weather for the north state and the Pacific Northwest. Forecasters expect clouds to dissolve after tonight's fitful rain. Next week could bring 75-degree afternoons to the valley and more snow-melting, tepid afternoons to the mountains. 

Clouds could return before midmonth. But there's little chance they'll brew up the high winds, heavy rain and thick mountain snow that can make north state storms miserably memorable, long-range forecasts show. 

Indeed, the 2004-2005 water year in the north state seems to have peaked in December after roaring off to an early start in October. And yet those heavy early rains have kept far northern Sacramento Valley rainfall above normal for the season to date despite dry spells in January and February. 

Red Bluff has soaked up 19.88 inches of rain to date, well ahead of the 17.05 inches the city usually gets by the end of February. The Redding airport has received 25.95 inches, compared with the 23.81-inch normal to date. A gauge at the west Redding fire station, in the foothills just above downtown, has logged 30.93 inches since July 1 -- a bit wetter than the 28.93-inch March 1 normal. 

But the north state mountains that slake the valley through its hot, dry summer aren't sharing this bounty. 

The gauge at Shasta Dam collects 46.40 inches of rain by the end of a typical February. So far this season, the dam has recorded 38.73 inches. Though hardly a harbinger of drought, such rainfall doesn't promise to submerge Lake Shasta's bathtub ring in time for Memorial Day boating. 

The mountains around Los Angeles have received the kind of rain that would leave Lake Shasta marina owners salivating and dam operators sweating. Opids Camp, above Pasadena, has sopped up 107 inches of rain since October. Lytle Creek, in the San Bernardino Mountains, has received just more than 93 inches since the rains started this fall. 

Those Southern California spots usually get about as much rainfall as Seattle in a typical season -- around 40 inches. But a vast atmospheric umbrella has cut Seattle's rainfall so far to 15.70 inches. 

Forecasters often pin such quirks on El Nio, the periodic shifting of equatorial winds that sends tropical ocean waters sloshing into Peru and eventually up the California coast. These warm waters rev up the jet stream winds that feed Pacific storms while steering them farther south than usual. 

Climatologists noticed a weak El Nio early this season. But they're not blaming this year's rainfall reversal on the mysterious phenomenon, said George Kline, a National Weather Service forecaster in Sacramento. 

"The El Nio died away late this fall," Kline said. "I can't really explain what's going on now." 

Reporter Scott Mobley can be reached at 225-8220 or at smobley at redding.com. 
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