Raining.

First, an apology for not posting up the past few days.  The family has been sick.  Me included.  When I heard the pitter patter on the roof at 5:30 this morning, I knew I should have found time and energy to post up.  Over the past few days this storm has gone through several forecast versions.  The final one yesterday was to push things in earlier and quicker.  So our rain day is today, with tapering over night.  Let's get down to the nitty gritty.

It is cool today.  Currently 47F, with a high projected in the low 50s.  Rain should persist through the morning hours, and taper a bit in the afternoon.  A cold front approaches around 4Pm, and we could see another round of heavy rain.  And colder temps.  Cloud cover keeps us warm tonight at about 40F.  All together we could still be looking at an inch of precipitation in town.  We are a third of the way there already as of 9AM this morning.  It also looks like we currently have a break in the rain.

This storm is likely to clear out by Saturday morning.  We could still see a few showers through the early morning hours, but clearing through the day.  We could even see sun by afternoon.  It will be chilly, and likely colder than today, thanks to the front moving through tonight.  Saturday night the lows drop down into the mid 30s.  The weather remains cool and sunny for the first half of the week, and then we can expect some warming, with temps reaching into the low 60s by mid week.  It will be lovely out when that happens.

All the storms for next week look like they will miss us.  One stays off shore; another moves through to our east.  Next chance for rain is looking to be around New Years.  More on that later.

We made a dent in the drought, across all sectors.  15% of the state is official completely out of drought, with nearly another 15% listed as Abnormally Dry.  The city of Santa Cruz is out of drought, but the south eastern portion of the county is still Abnormally Dry, with a very thin sliver of land listed at Moderate Drought.  We are moving in the right direction, and this current storm is bulls-eyed near the worst effected part s of the state.  Can't wait to see the next report.