Yesterday, however, much of coastal SoCal got some as showers and thunderstorms developed in association with a surge of monsoon moisture ahead of former Hurricane Dolores.
KSAN got pounded with 1.03" of rain, which sets new records for the most rain on a calendar day in July and the most rain observed for the month since 1850 at that site. I haven't seen an official report yet, but the .36" observed in downtown LA and .32" observed at LAX are apparently new monthly records.
Dolores is currently classified as a post-tropical cyclone, with maximum sustained winds in the last advisory from the National Hurricane Center (0300 UTC 19 July) of 25 knots. Nevertheless, even early this afternoon, she still has a nice, well-organized circulation as she moves northward, with a healthy rainband moving northward along the central California Coast. In addition, more thunderstorms are likely to trigger over SoCal today.
All of this is further evidence that it never rains in Southern California, it pours.
Note: Apologies for color aliasing problems in the loops above.
I suspect that runoff will be limited, but this may be good timing in terms of keeping trees and other vegetation alive, considering the severity of the drought there. Although it may cause problems for those who count on dry weather this time of year.
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