San Luis Obispo is going to be experiencing another wet and chilly week as a second storm makes its way to the region.
Last week, the Central Coast saw the first major rain storm of the season. According to PG&E data, Cal Poly’s campus received 3.01 inches of rain during Wednesday and Thursday’s storm. PG&E meteorologist John Lindsey said this new storm is only expected to drop anywhere from 0.5 inches to 0.75 inches of rain.
“Cal Poly, which has rainfall records stretching back nearly 150 years, reported 4.18 inches this November, nearly double the typical November,” Lindsey said.
Starting Tuesday, San Luis Obispo will see a 40 percent chance of rain and then a 70 percent chance going into the evening, according to the National Weather Service. Then, there will be an 80 percent chance of rain from Wednesday into Thursday.
Temperatures will hover around the low and mid-60s for the high and then the upper 40s for the low. There will be lighter winds between 5 and 15 mph with gusts up to 20 mph.
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With storms visiting the Central Coast the last two weeks, Lindsey predicts a wet winter ahead due to the possibility of an El Niño forming in the Eastern Pacific. An El Niño is a climatic event where waters in the Eastern Pacific Ocean become warmer near the equator, allowing for more water to evaporate into the atmosphere.
Putting more heat and water in the atmosphere around the equator changes air pressures over Central and South America, which in returns affects the jet stream that brings weather to the United States. These changes in pressure in the south causes a pull on the jet stream to the south. As a result, storms destined for the Pacific Northwest are pulled down to California. This climate event could bring as much as 25 inches of rain to San Luis Obispo this year.
“Over the past month, the numerical models have increased the predicted El Niño category to a moderate strength level for this winter,” Lindsey said. “This condition typically produces about 110 percent of above-average rainfall in San Luis Obispo County and normal rainfall amounts in Santa Barbara County.”
