The weather is getting weird: Pacific Palisades experienced a rare hailstorm that pelted cars and salted yards across town for about 15 minutes on the evening of Saturday, January 12.
Then, between January 12 and 18, 6.26 inches of rain fell across the Palisades, causing mudslides, flooding, traffic jams and power outages, and bringing down several trees on Sunset Boulevard near Will Rogers State Beach, on Palisades Drive and in Temescal Canyon Park.
Malibu and Topanga Canyons were closed Thursday, January 17—the same night a power outage occurred in The Highlands.
“The real interesting story isn’t the rain, it’s the hail,” Palisadian and local micro-weather expert Craig Weston told the Palisadian-Post in a recent interview.
“It hailed for about 15 minutes. You could see it bouncing off the grass. It’s even more interesting considering that in July, we saw a record high temperature of 107 degrees—a very, very high figure.”
Despite the torrential showers, Pacific Palisades is about on average for its yearly rainfall, Weston explained to the Post.
“So far, for this rain season, which is measured from July 1 to June 31, we’ve gotten 12.77 inches, 6.26 inches of which were just last week. The average rainfall in Los Angeles for the rain season is 14.7 inches, so we’re close to our average for the year.”
This year’s rainfall is a welcome relief compared to last year’s exceptionally thirsty season.
“Last year was really ugly—we only got 4.03 inches in Pacific Palisades,” Weston said. “Compare that to the 2016-2017 season, where we got a total of 22.52 inches, and compare that to the 2015-2016 season when we got 10.5 inches. It seems erratic, but what often happens is you get drought years that last a number of years, then you get into an El Niño cycle that dumps a ton of rain. We’ve been consistently under average until the 2016-2017 year, and this year we’ll likely be above average.”
Photo courtesy of Sharon Skowron
A rain advisory was declared for Los Angeles and Orange County beaches during the storm as waves of 8 to 15 feet pummeled the coastline Thursday and Friday. The National Weather Service issued a statement last Friday advising people to stay away from the beaches and out of the water due to an “increased risk for ocean drowning.” The County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health also issued an ocean water quality rain advisory that ended last Monday, urging people to steer clear of the beach, especially around storm strains, due to the increased risk of disease from storm drain runoff after heavy rains.
“Contamination from run-off can cause increased bacterial levels in ocean water, especially near storm drains, creeks and other waterways,” the Department of Public Health wrote in a statement. “Water contact during a rain advisory may cause illness especially in children, the elderly and susceptible people. At all times, beach users are cautioned to avoid water contact near flowing creeks and storm drains. Bacteria levels typically take 72 hours or more to return to normal after heavy rainfall.”
Despite the recent sunny weather, the Palisades might not be done with the cold and wet just yet.
“The heavy rain months in LA are usually February and March, really February,” Weston said. “What’s interesting is you have hail, which never happens, you have the highest temperature on record, which never happens, and you have all of this rain. Now, it’s 70 degrees and sunny.”
The best part of the rainy week had to be the evening of Sunday, January 13, when a rainbow appeared in the orange sky above the Palisades.
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