When I got up this morning (OK–it was afternoon. So shoot me.) the sky was gray. Not as bad as the photo (above) from the Mt. Wilson camera… but still gray. That’s not unexpected this time of year. May Gray is a well worn California phrase.
As it turns out, what looks like typical SoCal marine layer cloudiness is anything but! There are moderate to heavy radar returns from Central and Southern California.
The NWS office in San Diego describes it this way:
SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS THROUGH THIS EVENING…WITH ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE WEST OF THE MOUNTAINS.
There are reports of street flooding in San Diego. Storm drainage isn’t very good in most older neighborhoods. It doesn’t take a lot to flood.
Even though these cells are moving in my direction it’s likely few (if any) will get here. The mountains east of us enhance the rainfall on the desert side, then stabilize the airmass as it moves back to lower elevations.
In SoCal people look forward to these gray days as a break from our endless sunshine. An OC native I spoke to yesterday was curious if I missed rain?
Right.
I wanted to say, “You’re nuts.” I held my tongue.
Actually, I feel gypped on days like today. Stupid attitude, but it is what it is. My mind has independently decided it’s supposed to be sunny and mild every day. I have no control over the letdown I truly feel.
By tomorrow we should be back to normal.
It is interesting that the recent clouds and rain in SOCAL where the result of thunderstorms and not the typical May Gray, June Gloom…etc. I always thought he most interesting part of the cool/cloudy climate in late spring and early summer of coastal California was how it was so different than the rest of the USA at that time of year: In winter, other than Florida, overall cloudiness is greater everywhere in the USA than in summer. Some areas that are notorious for overcast winter skies (like the Pacific Northwest and Great Lakes) monthly sunshine drops below 100 hrs per month (Seattle averages like 70 hrs. of sunshine in January – compared to like 120 in NYC or 140 in Denver). Yet – when mid spring comes, the entire US mainland starts to experiences much more sunshine and far less cloudy days – except in coastal California. The May Gray and June Gloom (and even clouds in July can hold temps down) seem to delay the start of summer on the lower West Coast often.
In any event… the weather looks nice this holiday weekend for most of the USA. Other than in parts of the southern Plains, much of the USA should see seasonably warm temps and sunshine. The NYC/NJ/CT areas look nice on Memorial Day – sunshine and highs near 80 F. I hope everyone enjoys the long summer ahead.
I don’t understand your need to make the “shoot me” comment because you got up in the afternoon. Okay, I guess I kind of understand but it does bug me that some of us feel the need to make those comments just because we’re night owls. I’m sure you don’t go to bed every night by 9:00 and then sleep into the afternoon. But it does get tiring sometimes, explaining that we don’t sleep more than the average person, just at different times, doesn’t it? For the record, it’s almost 4:00am here and I’m just about ready to go to bed. I’ll be back online in the afternoon.