By Reginald Stanley. Posted February 22, 2024, 1:43 PM.Southern California received several additional rounds of precipitation between Saturday and Wednesday, padding an already wet February and resulting in some of the wettest monthly precipitation totals for February across the region. While this week's storms were not as wet as earlier in the month, most communities recorded modestly wet storm totals through Wednesday, with the highest totals falling on Tuesday. A weak shortwave brought light precipitation to parts of the region on Saturday and Sunday, with Simi Valley being the only WeatherCurrents station to record significant rainfall during that event. Light amounts were observed across portions of the inland valleys early Sunday morning, although many locations recorded nothing measurable. Monday was cool, cloudy with patchy drizzle west of the mountains, but was otherwise mostly calm. A subtropical moisture fetch brought more significant, sustained rain to much of the region on Tuesday, very slowly transiting eastward over Southern California, similar to a wetter storm earlier in the month that had stalled over the region. Low pressure had simultaneously brought heavier rain and instability to the northern and central parts of California on Tuesday, before moving to Southern California on Wednesday. By Wednesday, that storm was weakening and instability had lessened, although the region was targeted by bursts of moderate precipitation during the early morning hours. Showers had turned to patchy drizzle later in the day, and had cleared out of the region by Wednesday night. Storm totals covering the five-day period from Saturday through Wednesday were mostly between one and two inches across the WeatherCurrents network, with the bulk of that precipitation falling on Tuesday and Wednesday. Northerly locations (with the exception of Pinon Hills) received some of the highest totals from the storm, as well as south-facing slopes of mountains and foothills, due to the storm's southerly flow. Simi Valley was the wettest location with 2.37 inches recorded through Wednesday. Typically drier communities including Riverside (Orangecrest), Moreno Valley, Hemet and San Jacinto, were also among the wettest locations this week - while the typically wetter communities like Fallbrook received some of the lowest totals. Anza was the driest location with only 0.17 inches recorded there, which is significantly drier than the next driest location, Pinon Hills (0.78 inches). Riverside (Orangecrest) ended with 1.90 inches by Wednesday, with Moreno Valley closely following behind with 1.83 inches. In the Temecula Valley, the northern part of the valley was considerably wetter than the southern part, with Lake Elsinore receiving 1.58 inches - compared to 0.92 inches in south Temecula. In Temecula Valley's Wine Country, 1.05 inches was reported (courtesy of Jim Sappington). Drier weather is expected through the weekend, with weak offshore flow warming up the region Friday and Saturday. A chance of rain is in the forecast for early next week as another trough moves in from the Pacific, although details and timing are uncertain. Here are the rain totals for the WeatherCurrents network and associates:
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