Storm Clouds

Okay, campers, rise and shine! It's going to be a wet one, so don't forget your rain gear.

The rain started yesterday afternoon, and it doesn't look to let up until the end of the week. The National Weather Service reports that we can expect a series of three storms to move in from the west courtesy of El Niño. The strongest of the three will hit last and should arrive around late Wednesday or early Thursday.

The NWS has issued a winter storm advisory for Southern California. Foothill areas are predicted to receive a total of between nine and fifteen inches of precipitation in the coming week, and areas burned by last year's 160,000-acre Station Fire will be faced with the potential for debris flows.

As always, you can find hourly local weather information from the automated weather station at Los Angeles County Fire 62 on Mills Ave. just south of Mt. Baldy Rd. Speaking of which, if you need sandbags, the Daily Bulletin's Wes Woods II tells us that you can get them at the local fire stations. You may want to listen to Woods rather than the City of Claremont, or you could end up taking a longer drive then you need to.

As you might expect, the airwaves have been filled with chatter about this weather event. The commotion is enough to wake the dead, or even the e-dead.

The Heat is On

With temperatures in the triple digits this week, you may want to escape to one of the city of Claremont's Cool Zones, scattered throughout town. The city website gives more information on the locations:

Cooling Centers in Claremont

The City of Claremont offers several "Cool Zones" for residents to come and get out of the heat. The following locations are designated as "Cool Zones" and are open the hours listed below. In extreme heat conditions (2 or more consecutive days of temperatures over 100 degrees), the Human Services Department may extend the operational hours to include weekend hours beyond the normal operating hours. Please call the Alexander Hughes Community Center at (909) 399-5490 for further details.

• Hughes Community Center, 1700 Danbury Road
  Hours: Monday - Thursday 7:30 am - 9:00 pm, Fridays 7:30 am - 6:00 pm, Saturdays 8:00 am - 2:00 pm
• Joslyn Center, 660 North Mountain Avenue
  Hours: Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
• Blaisdell Center, 440 South College Avenue
  Hours: Monday - Friday 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
• Claremont Library, 208 Harvard Avenue
  Hours: Monday -Thursday 1:00 pm - 8:00 pm, Friday - Saturdays 10:00 am - 5:00 pm, Sunday 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm
• Youth Activity Center (YAC), 1717 North Indian Hill Blvd.
  Hours: Monday - Friday 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm
• Tracks Activity Center (TAC), El Roble 665 North Mountain Avenue
  Hours: Monday - Friday 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm
• Wading Pools (Memorial Park, Wheeler Park, El Barrio Park)
  Hours: 11:30 am - 1:30 pm

Sunday Storm Watch

The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood watch for Los Angeles and Ventura County valleys from 10pm tonight through tomorrow afternoon:

...FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT FROM 10 PM PST THIS EVENING THROUGH
MONDAY AFTERNOON...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LOS ANGELES/OXNARD HAS ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR THE LOS ANGELES AND VENTURA COUNTY VALLEYS.

* FROM 10 PM PST THIS EVENING THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON.

* A VERY MOIST...STRONG...AND POTENT STORM SYSTEM WILL BRING RAINFALL...HEAVY AT TIMES TO THE AREA. RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF ONE INCH TO THREE INCHES ARE EXPECTED OVER THE AREA THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON...CAPABLE OF PRODUCING FLASH FLOODING.

* THERE IS ALSO A THREAT OF FLASH FLOODING AND DEBRIS FLOWS FOR THE RECENT BURN AREAS INCLUDING THE BARHAM...GRIFFITH PARK...RANCH...BUCKWEED...MAGIC...SESNON...SAYRE...
MAREK...AND SANTA ANITA BURN AREAS.

A FLASH FLOOD WATCH MEANS THAT CONDITIONS MAY DEVELOP THAT LEAD TO FLASH FLOODING. FLASH FLOODING IS A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION. RESIDENTS IN THE AREA SHOULD MONITOR THE LATEST FORECASTS AND BE PREPARED TO TAKE ACTION SHOULD FLASH FLOOD WARNINGS BE ISSUED.

Those of you weather watchers interested in statistics might want to take a look at the information from the MESOWEST automated weather reporting station at L.A. County Fire Station 62 in Claremont on Mills Ave. one block south of Mt. Baldy Rd. The station reports wind speed and direction, temperature, precipitation, air pressure, and other weather data hourly.

All Wet - For Now

We didn't write about the last round of storms that blew through the area earlier this week, but a reader caught the rainfall numbers recorded at the automated weather station at L.A. County Fire Station 62 on Mills Ave. just south of Mt. Baldy Rd.

The reader pegged the rainfall between last Thursday and 9pm Monday evening at nearly five inches:

DATE: Monday, February 9, 2009 9:02 PM
SUBJECT: Rainfall
TO: Claremont Buzz

Hi Buzz -

I think I'm recalling this correctly, but I'm not sure. Last Thursday just before the storms, the Claremont weather station that you've publicized before had our rain total at 6.68 inches (might have been 6.86). Now (Mon 9pm) under a clear sky it's at 11.79. That's a lot of good moisture.

And there's more to come beginning Friday and Saturday from what the forecasters are telling us.

The latest storms brought much more than rain to our area. The snow levels were down quite low, and, after the clouds lifted late Monday afternoon, Mt. Baldy and the surrounding mountains were fully clad in white. The front page of Tuesday's Los Angeles Times had a stunning photo by Allen J. Schaben shot from Huntington Harbour looking north to the San Gabriel Mountains.

We couldn't find the photo posted on the Times website, but here's a shot of the front page:

Click to Enlarge

Even with all the rain, water experts are saying that Northern California precipitation is still woefully below normal for this time of year. The Aquafornia blog, which covers California water issues, explained why Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called for water rationing on Monday despite the recent heavy rains:

23% of Los Angeles’ water comes from Owens Valley, and 67% comes from Metropolitan, according to the Los Angeles Times article. Metropolitan’s water supplies include groundwater, Colorado River Aqueduct, and the State Water Project. Metropolitan has rights to 47% (2 MAF [million acre-feet]) of water from the State Water Project and 1.2 MAF of Colorado River water, plus groundwater.

The good news is that this year, the snowpack is looking good for the Colorado River basin. The okay news is that the Eastern Sierra and the Owens Valley are classified as moderate drought to abnormally dry. But the bad news is that Northern California, the source for the State Water Project, is considered in “extreme drought”.

So, although Southern California is getting plenty of precipitation, it doesn’t do a lot for the water supply as most of it flows right out to the ocean. Northern California’s precipitation is still below normal, at least according to this drought monitor. It’s from last Tuesday, so it doesn’t include the recent storms which have brought some rain and snow to Northern California. There might be some improvement in the next one.

The State of California's Department of Water Resources has a website with all sorts of drought information, including a graphic, current as of February 1st, showing the water levels at the state's main reservoirs:

Click to Enlarge

Reading the Skies

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We knew an old fisherman once upon a time who plied the local seas back when there was still a living to be had out of these waters. The fellow used to say you could tell a storm was coming when the clouds looked like the side of mackerel - all striated and wavy with steel blue woven between the silver-whites of the clouds.

And sure enough, that's exactly what we saw last night in advance of the storm that's supposed to hit today - those mackerel-sided clouds the old guy talked about long before Doppler radar was even a gleam in Fritz Coleman's eye.

The old fisherman knew: Signs abound, it's merely a matter of being attuned to them.

Stay dry and safe out there, and have a Happy Holiday.

Winter Storm Hits

The rain came all at once last night, a little before midnight, as if Someone had turned on a spigot and loosed the Flood. It rained steadily through the night and looks to keep on going for a while.

The automated Mesowest weather reporting site at LA County Fire Department Station 62 reported 1.80" of rain as of 1:40pm with more showers to follow through the rest of the day.

The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for LA and Ventura Counties, and it said that the snow levels will drop to 4,500 feet, and looks as if it has dropped even lower - good news for Mt. Baldy skiers. The cold and rain showers are supposed to continue through Tuesday night and possibly into Wednesday.

Bundle up, and don't drive if you don't have to. The roads figure to be a mess this A.M. If ever there were a time for cocooning, today's the day.

Sunday Crime Report

DEBIT CARD ID THEFT

A reader wrote in last night with an email about someone using her ATM information to take money from her B of A account. Nothing yet in the local papers. If you've had a similar problem, contact your bank and the local police to report the theft.

If you live in Claremont, the Claremont Police Department is located (for now) at 570 W. Bonita Ave. The non-emergency CPD contact number is 399-5411.

Here's our reader's note:

Not sure if this is newsworthy...

...but thought I'd pass it along. This week both my landlady and my friend were victims of ATM card identity theft and from their calls to Bank of America, it sounds like there was a pretty large organized hit that happened here.

Both of them have accounts at Bank of America, and both of them had their cards used at a Ventura ATM for multiple $500 withdrawals over several days (before they realized what was happening). When they called Bank of America, they heard that several people in La Verne and Claremont have been victimized, with ATM withdrawals in the same area, so it sounds like it was part of one big operation.

I'm not sure if this is useful news, beyond the obvious: everyone should keep an eye on their bank accounts looking for unusual activity. My landlady bought some groceries using her ATM card just before it happened, so she suspects the information needed to manufacture a duplicate ATM card might have been stolen there, but she doesn't know for sure.

Hope you're enjoying the lightning storm we're having tonight!

The reader also alluded to last night's electrical storm, which brought a little rain - about .2" between 8:40pm and 9:40pm, according to the weather monitoring station at the fire station near Mills Ave. and Mt. Baldy Rd.


DRUGS SEIZED DURING TRAFFIC STOP

The Daily Bulletin reports that Claremont police, with the help of an Upland PD drug-sniffing dog, found nearly $1 million in heroin and methamphetamine during a traffic stop on the eastbound 10 Freeway near Indian Hill Blvd. The Bulletin article stated:

Claremont police Sgt. Karlan Bennett would not elaborate on what made the officers call for a drug-sniffing dog.

Police found 6 pounds of methamphetamine and 15 pounds of heroin in a concealed compartment of the car.

Authorities estimate the value of the drugs at $900,000.

Bennett recalled a large cocaine bust within city limits about 12 years ago. That cocaine seizure was performed by a group of different law enforcement agencies.

"But for us this is one of the larger busts in the city," he said.

MOUNTAIN LION SIGHTED OFF MILLS AVE.

The CPD website also informs us that a mountain lion was seen in the backyards of some homes on the 1900 block of N. Mills Ave. in northeast Claremont. The cat was gone by the time CPD could respond and was not located.

CPD reminds us that mountain lions generally stay away from people and the department offers some tips for keeping safe when one is around:

Staying Safe in Mountain Lion Country

* Do not hike, bike, or jog alone.
* Avoid hiking or jogging when mountain lions are most active, and don't allow pets outside when mountain lions are most active --dawn, dusk, and at night.
* Don't leave small children or pets outside unattended.
* Install motion-sensitive lighting around the house.
* Bring pet food inside to avoid attracting raccoons, opossums and other potential mountain lion prey.
* Keep a close watch on small children.
* Do not approach a mountain lion.
* If you encounter a mountain lion, do not run; instead, face the animal, make noise and try to look bigger by waving your arms; throw rocks or other objects.
* If attacked, fight back.
* If a mountain lion attacks a person, immediately call 911.

CPD's site carries a link to a California Department of Fish and Game page that has information on mountain lions.

The Claremont Courier also carried a letter from David Null on the subject. Null suggested wearing a mask on the back of your head if you are hiking. He says this may fool the lion into thinking that you're watching it:

I have another suggestion: Mountain lions are ambush predators, stalking, then attacking from the rear onto the back of its prey, then delivering a suffocating neck bite. Tigers use a similar ambush technique and tigers, at least old or injured ones, frequently attack humans. For protection, it is not uncommon in India and Bangladesh for people in tiger country to wear human masks on the BACKS of their heads. That is the mask faces to the rear. This allegedly confuses the tiger who can’t decide which is the human’s back (remember ambush predators attack almost exclusive from the rear). In short, the tiger doesn’t know whether the human is coming or going and consequently his attack is deterred.

Heat Wave

It's gonna be another scorcher today. So much for our traditional June gloom. Whether you think it's human-caused or natural variation, is this a taste of the future?

The weather instruments at LA County Fire Station 62 recorded a maximum temp of 104 yesterday at 1:40pm, and figures to be almost as hot today.

The city of Claremont has designated the Alexander Hughes Community Center a "Cool Zone" today from 8am to 5pm. The city has invited Claremont residents to come cool off and also offers some tips on surviving the heat from the American Red Cross:

· Drink water continuously even if you don't feel thirsty and avoid alcohol and caffeine, which can dehydrate the body.
· Avoid high protein foods, which increases metabolic heat. Eat small meals and eat more often.
· Avoid using salt tablets unless directed to do so by a physician.
· Avoid strenuous activity. If you must do strenuous activity, do so during the coolest part of the day, which is usually in the morning from 4 - 7 a.m.
· Stay indoors when possible.
· Take regular breaks in a cool place.

For additional information about staying cool in the summer visit www.redcross.org. Additional information about the Alexander Hughes Community Center is available by calling (909) 399-5490.

Community Cool Zone
Saturday June 21st - 8am - 5pm
Alexander Hughes Community Center
1700 N. Danbury Rd.
Claremont, CA 91711
(909) 399-5490

Wild Weather Continues

LA County Fire Station 62 Weather Data
Click to Enlarge

Just when we thought summer was here, what feels like a winter storm comes along and dumps over 1.5" of rain on Claremont yesterday. It's a rare Memorial Day Weekend when we see snow on Ontario Peak on the east side of San Antonio Canyon, but there it was. One week we have 100-degree days, and the next we've got steady rain and high temperature readings in the low-50's.

And that doesn't even include the twin tornados that knocked over 32-ton railroad cars in Moreno Valley Thursday or the flash flooding in Redlands, San Bernardino, and other parts of the Inland Empire. The Daily Bulletin had coverage by Wes Woods II on the unseasonal storm system.

There were no reports of mudslides up in the Big Horn Fire burn area above Mt. Baldy Village, though the fire areas in Sierra Madre had some debris flows.

The Bulletin article said Mt. Baldy got about three inches of snow, and the stormy weather is supposed to continue today:

"This is pretty unusual to have a such a cold low-pressure (system)," said National Weather Service meteorologist Ted Mackechnie in San Diego. "Its flow is bringing moist air off (the) ocean and bringing rain showers west of the mountains and thunderstorms over the desert."

Mackechnie said there was a 40 percent chance of showers continuing today.

A dense fog advisory was predicted until 11 a.m. today in the San Bernardino Mountains, Mackechnie said.

Today's and Sunday's temperatures are expected to be in mid-50 degree range in the morning and increase to the 60s with double-digit winds, according to AccuWeather.com.

At Mt. Baldy Ski Resort on Friday, president Pete Olson said he had been up since 7 a.m. and saw about two to three inches of snow on the parking lot.

"But the ground is so warm, it's melting," Olson said Friday morning. "I was surprised when I woke up this morning. It was all white as far as the eye can see.

Belated Mailbag

Our apologies to you if your email doesn't make it into the Insider in a timely manner, or if it doesn't make it in at all. As you can imagine, we get swamped with e-notes of all sorts. Why, just this week we've won the Irish Lottery at least a dozen times, and never mind the requests to help out numerous Nigerian bank executives.

So, you can imagine it's hard to wade through all our email. This note came into to us after the big rain the first weekend of this month:

Saw in your last blog, reference of a weather station no longer at the Thompson Creek Dam. The dam is line of sight from my home in Padua Hills.

I notice that there is no water stored in the basin after these recent heavy rains. The L.A. County DPW had three trucks with crews working there mid-day on Sunday, at the outlet gated valve assembly. They appeared to be shoveling mud out. There were also several trucks there on Thursday or Friday, and lots of activity there all summer and autumn.

Last winter there was water in the basin for several weeks, even though there wasn't much rainfall.

I'm not privy to "the water authority's" policy on rain run-off retention for replenishing the groundwater table, but it seems that they should be trying to retain some of this water, and allowing it to percolate into the
underground water table.

We haven't heard why the county public works trucks were out at the dam. Perhaps clearing debris in preparation for the big rain?

We're also not sure what the groundwater storage policy is. We had heard that lower lying areas of Claremont can have problems if there is too much groundwater. College Park has an old artesian well fenced off with a historical marker, and Pilgrim Place use to have problems with groundwater coming up.

We've also been told that that's one reason why water retention at the San Antonio Dam spreading grounds is capped at a certain level.

We don't know how any of this affects the League of Women Voters' proposal to create a wetlands preserve on vacant land near the Thompson Creek trail or if the league has even looked into potential groundwater problems their project might create.

There may be a reason why nature didn't put a wetlands there in the first place.

A Mighty Wind

No, we're not talking about another city council meeting.

Last night's Santa Ana winds were especially strong around Claremont. A check of the MesoWest ROMAN weather site showed that at the weather station at L.A. County Firestation #62 at Mills Ave. below Mt. Baldy Rd. sustained winds really started picking up after 5:40pm yesterday.

The winds weren't anything like the 82 mph gust measured at the Fremont Canyon station in Orange County or the 100mph peak wind at Laguna Peak in Ventura County, but they were still high enough to damage roofs and knock down tree limbs.

Sustained winds at the Claremont firestation reached 23mph after 9:30 last night. Peak gusts were above 40mph for several hours until around midnight and reached a high of 49mph between 8:40 and 9:40pm.

Click on Image to Enlarge

Wayland Court Floods

Last weekend's big rain reportedly caused a Metrolink drain to back up and flood three homes on the south side of the railroad tracks just east of Mills Ave.

The Claremont Courier had an article on the flooding and also noted that three additional homes had garages flooded. The article also noted that the are had similar flooding in 2003.

Metrolink appeared to be seeing to the repair work at the affected homes.

Rain Event

Well, the rain finally came.

The weather data station at Los Angeles County Fire Station 62 on Mills Ave. just south of Mt. Baldy Rd. reports that between 1:40pm yesterday and 6:40am today, the station received over 4.9 inches of rain. The bulk of the precipitation fell between 7:40pm and 1:40am.

You can find the Station 62 weather data at this National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website.

A second storm is due to hit later today and is expected to bring another 3-5 inches of rain to our area between today and 10:00pm tomorrow.

When Wilt The West Wind Blow?

We're still waiting on for that small rain down to rain.

It never did hit us yesterday, but the National Weather Service advisory is still in place, and they're still predicting 2-5 inches in coastal and valley areas and 6-12 inches in the mountains beginning tonight and through the weekend.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Works maintains a map of LA County that shows real-time rainfall levels at weather stations througout the area. The map also allows you to see seasonal totals and seasonal averages for each station.

They used to display a station at Thompson Creek Dam in northeast Claremont, but that's no longer there. In the winter of 2004-05 when we had the really big rainy season, the Thompson Creek station registered well over 40-inches, as we recall.