Rain and flooding for the Holidays

It’s the Winter Solstice — the first day of winter — and it starts wet and windy.

As you may have guessed, if you’re living in Southern California, it is raining and we will see rain off and on throughout the day. To the south, in Orange and San Diego Counties, they will be getting rain all day. Some areas are expected to get 2-3 (or more) inches of rain.

Along with the rain we have high winds. The California Highway Patrol (CHP), is reporting — tweeting — “TRAFFIC ADVISORY FOR ANTELOPE VALLEY: NB SR-14 AT AVENUE D- ALL LANES SHUT DOWN DUE TO HIGH WINDS IN THE AREA.”

The National Weather Service has tweeted: “Strong W-NW winds across region today. Mountains and ‪#AV (Antelope Valley) damaging gusts over 60 mph with reduced vsybs in blowing dust.” And “At 9 am, Poppy Park in ‪#AV reporting west winds of 50 mph gusting 64 mph. ‪#LAWeather ‪#cawx”

“At 1133 am, Lancaster reporting wind gust of 57 mph with 1/4 mile visibility in blowing dust”

Public Information Officer (PIO) Brandon Vaccaro tweeted: “Avoid the Mojave area if possible. Multiple big-rigs blown over throughout Mojave. Extreme winds still blowing.”

The winds are reported to be 50-60 mph. Be careful as you drive in the area today.

In San Diego it has been raining steadily all morning with moderate to high winds of 20 mph being reported throughout the county. They are expected to have rain all day with winds picking up later this afternoon.

If that doesn’t sink your boat, we are also under high surf and flooding advisories along the coast. We are experiencing King Tides once again so expect more flooding through Christmas.

If you are a surfer of decent skill, you may want to put on the wet suit and get in the water. NWS reports:

COASTAL FLOOD ADVISORY FOR SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA THROUGH FRIDAY…
…HIGH SURF ADVISORY FOR THE CENTRAL COAST TUESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY…
.AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF LARGE NORTHWEST SWELL WILL BEGIN TO IMPACT THE SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA COASTAL WATERS TODAY. THE BUILDING SWELL WILL RESULT IN HIGH SURF FOR EXPOSED LOCATIONS NORTH OF POINT CONCEPTION AND ELEVATED SURF SOUTH OF POINT CONCEPTION. OTHER HAZARDS INCLUDE MINOR COASTAL FLOODING FOR THE ENTIRE COASTLINE DUE TO THE COMBINATION OF RISING SURF AND HIGH TIDES. THERE WILL ALSO BE A HIGH RISK OF MODERATE TO STRONG RIP CURRENTS AT AREA BEACHES THROUGH LATE IN THE WEEK.
SURF…3 TO 6 FEET WITH LOCAL SETS TO 7 FEET. THE HIGHEST SURF WILL OCCUR TODAY…AND AGAIN THURSDAY INTO FRIDAY.
* IMPACTS…ELEVATED SURF AND STRONG RIP CURRENTS WILL INCREASE THE RISK OF OCEAN DROWNING. MINOR FLOODING OF LOW LYING BEACH PARKING LOTS…HARBOR WALKWAYS…AND CAMPGROUNDS WILL BE POSSIBLE…ESPECIALLY NEAR TIME OF HIGH TIDE EACH MORNING.

They also said the surf will be at its highest on exposed, west-facing shores throughout Southern California. Redondo, Manhattan, Dockweiler, Newport Beaches, south through San Clemente, Oceanside, Carlsbad, Encinitas, including Swami’s, through La Jolla, Mission, Ocean, Sunset Cliffs, and Imperial Beaches.

This weather is expected through the weekend, with some sunny moments on Wednesday, but Thursday and Friday, Christmas Eve and Day, there will be rain and high winds off an on throughout Southern California.

They are also reporting snow in all the higher elevations, especially the Sierra Nevada Mountains, so if you’re looking to go skiing or snowboarding you will have some fresh snow in all the resorts.

With the weather advisories in effect for the next week, please plan your holiday driving and recreation accordingly.

 Top Photo: Over-turned big rig in Antelope Valley, by PIO Brandon Vaccaro.
All other photos by NWS unless otherwise noted.