Weather guessers, who told us over and over that February would be one of the wettest months ever, would have been correct with their forecasts – if only the complete opposite happened during the month.
February came to a close yesterday with record heat – 90 degrees in Palm Springs – and for the entire month, there was no measurable rainfall in the Coachella Valley. Zero. Nada. Zilch.
Thanks for nothing, El Niño.
And the lack of any rain is bad news for the drought in the state.
“Almost the entire state is still well-below normal levels with deficits of about 20 inches of precipitation or more,” climatologist Brian Fuchs at the National Drought Mitigation Center told NBC News. He says that the strong El Nino in the Pacific Ocean “is starting to not be as robust. The forecasts are showing that most El Nino conditions will be gone probably by spring to early summer.”
Mountain High Ski Resort, which normally stays open through mid-April, closed on Sunday due to lack of snow – but were not willing to completely call it a season yet as there may be some snow on the way.
“Toward the end of the week, we do expect snow to fall at the resort,” Robbie Munroe, a meteorologist with The National Weather Service told The LA Times. “We’ll see rain and high-mountain snow starting Saturday evening, with snow showers at resort level Sunday and lasting into Monday.”
And while we do not know how much precipitation, if any might fall, it does look likely that at least we will get some cooler temperatures.
Palm Springs 7-Day Forecast!
The warmer-than-normal weather continues with a chance of SoCal rain next week!@KESQ pic.twitter.com/QqHuFeXW3z— Jerry Steffen™ KESQ (@JerrySteffen) February 29, 2016
Which will be nice.
