Rain exceeds expectations.

Such a nice way to wake up to the pitter patter of rain.  My son and I spent a good ten minutes with the door open appreciating the wetness of everything.  Not just a foggy dampness.  It feels pretty light here on the west side, but it has been steady since I got up at 6:15.  As of 8AM, gauges along the summit are recording about one half inch with La Honda being the winner at .68 inch.  Davenport is recording two tenths, Peasant Valley a third, and Watsonville half of that.  And my son just reported from the bathroom that it is still raining.  He asks if I can hear the pitter patter.  We love us some rain.  Lucky for us the radar suggest that we have another hour or two to enjoy.  The main band has mostly passed us, but the really good news is that it have moved solidly inland, and the Central Valley is enjoying the wetness as well.  Oh, and NPR just reported two accidents on 17 (no big surprise there; slow down, the road is a freaking oil slick, yo!) and several others around the Bay.

Red Cliffs in late summer.  Kirkwood Valley, California.

Quickly, as I said rain has moved inland, let's talk about fire.  It now looks like the western edge of the King Fire.  Obviously, there are no gauges within that blaze, but Bald Mountain, just about 5 miles west of the fire's western edge has received about a tenth of an inch so far.  More is looking to move in as the morning progresses.  Awesome news.  Along with that, inland temps have dropped significantly, and humidity has risen from about 35% to 95% in El Dorado County.  Let's hope this high energy fire gets a beating from the storm.

Things should clear out for us today.  I'd expect to see some afternoon sun.  There is likely a second wave of rain coming, but I still think it will miss us here in Santa Cruz.  But we could see some clouds returning, or maybe they never leave.  It does look like the northern central, and eastern portions of the state are going to get more moisture than previously thought.  Excellent news.  That should occur today and into tonight.  As this thing exits, Friday, the back side could wrap more moisture into the central and southern Sierra Nevada into Sunday morning.  Decent chance at a dusting of snow above 9000 feet along the crest.  Overall, a decent little rain maker for our overly dry state.  If you can't already tell, I'm super stoked on this rain.

Rain through the morning, with some clearing later today.  Chance of clouds and light rain tomorrow, but not likely.  Strong NW flow for late Friday and the weekend.  More on next week later.  Just sit back and enjoy that drip drip drop.  I am sad for my tomatoes, though.

Oh, yeah, careful by that ocean today!  And if you are getting out, expect some stronger side shore current that you have felt in a few months.