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Postmortem on Weekend Storm/More Storminess Coming!

Mar 21, 2011; 1:04 PM ET

The weekend storm in California certainly lived up to the hype I gave it, and then some. This weatherman got to experience the storm firsthand driving back from the Bay Area to the Los Angeles Basin Sunday afternoon. What a ride that was.

Over the weekend, the heaviest rain fell in the southern half of the state, though rain amounts of 1 to as much as 2 inches did fall over a two-day period around the Bay Area and east. Here are some of the heavier amounts I found in a two-day period as of noon Monday.

Central Coast to San Joaquin Valley:

Montecito-7.16

Kettleman Hills-7.02

Santa Maria-4.32

San Luis Obispo-4.08

Santa Ynez-4.08

Hurly-3.59

Fresno-2.12

Lemoore-1.17

Southern California:

Van Nuys-6.58

Clear Creek-5.45

Newhall Pass-4.19

Beverly Hills-4.04

Saugus-3.98

Burbank-3.90

Lytle Creek-3.91

Malibu Canyon-3.79

Downtown Los Angeles-2.48

Devore-1.94

Valley Center-1.62

Julian-1.64

Carlsbad-1.46

Ramona-1.46

San Diego International Airport-0.93

Snow Accumulations (inches):

Alpine meadows-101

mammoth Mountain-97

China Peak-92

Frazier Park-48

Mountain High-24 to 36

Snow Summit-14 to 18

One final observation. I went right by San Luis Reservoir on Route 152 Sunday and I have not seen that reservoir that full in at least several years.

Don't put away the umbrellas as the roaring lion that is the end of March is still going strong. Two more storms will move through during the workweek. Neither will be as strong as this past weekend's, but they will still bring some important rain and snow amounts. This time, the heavier amounts are going to be in the northern two-thirds of the state, but even in the south, some rain will fall. The first storm will come tomorrow night and Wednesday north and late Wednesday/Wednesday night south. The storm following this one will not be far behind and will move in late Wednesday night and Thursday north through central and late Thursday and Thursday night in the south. Showers can occur just about anywhere Friday with more in the morning than the afternoon in central and southern areas.

Snow levels will be well below pass level in the Sierra in both storms with substantial additional snowfall likely. In the south, snow levels will be below resort level and close to pass level.

Will the storm track lift north after this? It does look that way, but for how long depends on your model of choice. The European drops another strong storm in Tuesday into Wednesday next week, but the GFS has storms well to the north with dry, mild weather. We will see about this at a later time. Meanwhile, we have two more storms to consider first.

The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of AccuWeather, Inc. or AccuWeather.com

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About This Blog

Ken Clark
Ken Clark's Western U.S. weather blog tackles daily weather events with commentary from one of the most experienced and trusted Western U.S. weather experts.

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