Rare July storm brings rain, thunder,
and lightning over the weekend
Published:  July 17, 2015

It was rain, rain, rain over the weekend with more forecast in a rare July storm that brought thunder and lightning in the sky and in some areas havoc on the ground.

Parched Santa Paula like the rest of Southern California welcomed the unusual event an offshoot of Tropical Storm Dolores moved through the area, a leisurely weather trip that was expected to continue through Tuesday morning.

During the height of the downpours, which started Saturday afternoon in Santa Paula with a cloudburst flash flood advisories were issued throughout the state, including Ventura County mountains and adjacent valleys.

According to spweather.net at times the storm’s rain rate exceeded one-inch an hour.

One rain gauge watcher in Hillview Estates measured 1.25 inches — a half-inch boost from Sunday’s storm — as of Monday morning while readings at upper Santa Paula Creek were in the 1.49-inch range.

Mike Lambert, who lives in the northern portion of the city, said “The total at our house,” is 1.5 inches, with a half-inch of rain Saturday and 1-inch filling the gauge Sunday.

Butch Baselice, who with his wife Burma owns Santa Paula Salsa - Red Hot Foods on Railroad Avenue, didn’t say how much he got but whatever it was he made good use of the opportunity for free water.

“Over the rainstorm we set out our 55-gallon drums and we got seven,” drums worth to water the company’s plants that go into their homemade products.

Teased Baselice in a Facebook posting, “Do you think the state will charge us for the free water?”

There should have been a barrel ranch in the mountains of northern Ventura County, which received the heaviest rainfall, with some areas getting close to 3 inches according to the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

According to spweather.net the total for the weekend rainstorm was 1.10 inches bringing the rain season to date total to 9.5 inches, almost as much rain that has fallen in the Santa Paula area for the last two years combined.

To compare the rainfall, in 2012-2013 the Ventura County Watershed Protection District recorded only 5.96 inches of rain in Santa Paula...for the entire rain year, which starts October 1 and goes through September 30. The rainfall was 33 percent of the normal pre-drought average rainfall for Santa Paula of 18.05 inches. 

The next year was slighter wetter: 2013-2014 saw 6.15 inches of rain for the year, 34.1 percent of annual average.

So far with 9.5 inches for the rain season Santa Paula is slightly more than 50 percent of the average pre-drought rainfall of 18.05 inches.

As of 5 a.m. Monday some rainfall totals for selected cities in Ventura County were CSU Channel Islands, 0.79 inch; Camarillo, 0.53; South Mountain, 1.83 inches; Stewart Canyon, 1.57; Ojai, 1.09 and Fillmore, 1.45 inches.

Major storm damage was reported in Coachella where a bridge collapsed Sunday on the 10 Freeway due to floodwaters, stopping traffic near the Arizona border. The incident resulted in moderate injuries to at least one motorist.

Visitors to beaches and piers were told to leave during the height of the weekend storms, which included claps of thunder and dangerous lightning.




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