Mobile Weather Lab: Dry, Sunny Weather Ahead
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - The rainy season started out with a bang in Northern California, and CBS13's new Mobile Weather Lab is tracking the most accurate weather information on the roads.
"We started out really wet, much above normal," said National Weather Service Meteorologist Craig Shoemaker.
Shoemaker says some big early season storms put the region ahead in the season's rain gauge.
Rain in early December was so heavy it caused creeks to flood, leaving a Citrus Heights mobile home park under several feet of water.
Rain in the Central Valley and several feet of Sierra snow snarled traffic. At one point, the snowpack measured nearly 200 percent above normal.
However, things changed in January. A stubborn ridge of high pressure acted as a giant shield, keeping all the action north and bringing snowpack back to normal.
"This shift is not unusual, Januarys are highly variable for the amount of precipitation we receive," said Shoemaker.
The dry January is already bleeding into February, and meteorologists say the long range outlook will keep us drier than normal through the rest of the season.
