California: 16 in. Rain, 24-Foot Waves

Never let it be said that the weather is boring in California! That state has been the site of extreme rainfall totals and high waves this week. Heavy snow also fell, but mostly at high elevations above 8000 feet where few people reside.

I hereby steal today's AP photo once again for illustration:

Strong Surf - December 23, 2005 - Two surfers compete for a wave in Newport Beach Calif., Thursday Dec. 22, 2005. A large Pacific storm near Hawaii is expected to produce large waves at beaches in southern California. (AP Photo/ Chris Carlson)

Waves were recorded at nearly 24 feet by Buoy 46013 off the coast Northwest of San Francisco.

The reports of damage, death and injury were incredible. From National Weather Service reports:

The Pro site's WaveWatch III computer forecasting model shows waves from 10-15 feet in the forecast through Christmas but the big guys will be back, nearly 30 feet high on the 28th.

Now let's talk extreme rainfall. Here's a list of amounts over 10 inches that fell this week in California:

BUCKS LAKE 16.68"
LAPORTE 15.22"
GOLD LAKE 14.68"
BRUSH CREEK 13.02"
GIRARD 12.65"
PIKE LOOKOUT 12.04"
BLUE CANYON 10.57"

And here's a map of Doppler-Estimated precipitation. Although Doppler estimates are notoriously inaccurate in mountainous areas, this one is probably not too far off, showing a wide area of 8 to 12 inches.

But I'm no Western weather expert. For continued updates on Western Weather, follow Ken Clark (PREMIUM | PRO) and Paul Yeager (PREMIUM | PRO) on the Accu-Blogosphere.

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