STORM WATCH!!! 2010 arrives early

It's an early Christmas in LA with the mid-October arrival of STORMWATCH!!! across the entire spectrum of local TV news.

Usually we don't get to be this worked up about rain until the end of December so it's really a treat to see all the stations pull out their hype-driving screen graphics and dire doomsday predictions so early in the season.

It seriously gets beyond the level of east coast blizzard crazy in the lead up.  And then what usually happens is reporters stationed all throughout the city "southland" will report on drizzle when the super-hyped event fails to meet the sky-high expectations of destruction.  It's hard to blame them.  For most of the year our weather is entirely pleasant yet wholly  unremarkable.  We don't get hurricanes. There are no tornadoes.  And there isn't usually much rain at all for 9 months each year.

But we do have fires...and fires lead to burn areas...and burn areas lead to mud slides...and mud slides lead to something for the news to obsess over.  "Will the burn areas survive!?"   "How to protect your house from mudslides!"  "How to talk to your kids about mudslides!"  "Send us your mudslide pictures and video!"  It's like a little cottage industry.

And then on top of that there will literally be a billion accidents on the freeways.  It doesn't matter if there's drizzle or a foot of rain.  People will crash their cars--everywhere.  Gotta love it.  But that's not because of the storm--that's because people are idiots.  It's like driving in snow with someone from Georgia.

I've lived here for ten years and I can count the number of storms that were legitimately over the top destructive on one hand.  Sure, the bad one's are bad...but we get the STORMTRACK hype four or five times a year--kinda makes one numb to it all.  We'll see if this new hell storm makes the list or duds out like most of the rest.

Here's the official word from the National Weather Service.  Even they hype it up here...

Issued by The National Weather Service
Los Angeles, CA
3:12 pm PDT, Mon., Oct. 12, 2009

... PACIFIC STORM WILL BRING THE POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY RAIN AND STRONG WINDS TO MUCH OF SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA...

A STRONG STORM SYSTEM... ESPECIALLY FOR OCTOBER... WILL BEGIN MOVING INTO NORTHERN AND CENTRAL CALIFORNIA LATE TONIGHT. CONSIDERABLE REMNANT MOISTURE FROM FORMER WESTERN PACIFIC TYPHOON MELOR IS EXPECTED TO BE PULLED INTO THIS SYSTEM. AT THIS TIME... IT APPEARS THIS STORM WILL BRING SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL TO THE AREA ALONG WITH THE POSSIBILITY OF MUD AND DEBRIS FLOWS ACROSS RECENT BURN AREAS.

OVER SAN LUIS OBISPO AND SANTA BARBARA COUNTIES... THE PERIOD OF HEAVIEST RAIN WILL LIKELY BE FROM TUESDAY MORNING THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT. PRELIMINARY RAINFALL ESTIMATES FOR THESE AREAS RANGE FROM 1.50 TO 3.00 INCHES OVER COASTAL AND VALLEY AREAS TO 3.00 TO 6.00 INCHES ACROSS FOOTHILL AND MOUNTAIN AREAS. LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS ARE POSSIBLE OVER FAVORED SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST FACING MOUNTAIN SLOPES. A FLASH FLOOD WATCH HAS ALREADY BEEN ISSUED FOR THE RECENT BURN AREAS OF SANTA BARBARA COUNTY... WITH RAINFALL INTENSITIES OF ONE HALF TO ONE INCH PER HOUR POSSIBLE DURING THE PEAK OF THE EVENT.

OVER VENTURA AND LOS ANGELES COUNTIES... SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL IS ALSO EXPECTED... ALTHOUGH AMOUNTS MAY BE SOMEWHAT LESS THAN AREAS TO THE NORTH. AT THIS TIME... IT APPEARS THAT COASTAL AND VALLEY AREAS OF VENTURA COUNTY COULD RECEIVE BETWEEN 1.00 TO 2.00 INCHES... WHILE FOOTHILL AND MOUNTAIN AREAS WILL HAVE THE POTENTIAL FOR 2.00 TO 5.00 INCHES. THERE IS STILL GREATER UNCERTAINTY OF RAINFALL AMOUNTS ACROSS LOS ANGELES COUNTY AND POINTS SOUTHWARD. HOWEVER... PRELIMINARY RAINFALL PROJECTIONS FOR LOS ANGELES COUNTY COAST AND VALLEYS ARE BETWEEN 0.75 AND 1.50 INCHES... WITH 1.50 TO 4.00 INCHES POSSIBLE ACROSS THE FOOTHILLS AND MOUNTAINS. AS WE DRAW CLOSER TO THE EVENT... THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH MAY NEED TO BE EXPANDED SOUTH AND EAST INTO THE BURN AREAS OF VENTURA AND LOS ANGELES COUNTIES.

IN ADDITION... MOTORISTS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT THE FIRST RAIN OF THE SEASON ALSO BRINGS VERY SLIPPERY CONDITIONS TO LOCAL ROADWAYS DUE TO THE BUILDUP OF OIL OVER THE SUMMER. RESIDENTS OF SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA ESPECIALLY THOSE WITH PROPERTY OR INTERESTS IN AND AROUND THE RECENT BURN AREAS SHOULD STAY TUNED TO THE LATEST NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECASTS AND STATEMENTS AS THIS PACIFIC STORM DRAWS CLOSER TO THE REGION.

ALONG WITH THE HEAVY RAINFALL... GUSTY SOUTHEAST TO SOUTH WINDS ARE EXPECTED TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. THE STRONGEST WINDS WILL OCCUR OVER SAN LUIS OBISPO AND SANTA BARBARA COUNTIES... AS WELL AS THE MOUNTAINS OF VENTURA AND LOS ANGELES COUNTIES. A HIGH WATCH HAS ALREADY BEEN POSTED FOR THESE AREAS... WITH DAMAGING WIND GUSTS OVER 60 MPH POSSIBLE TUESDAY INTO WEDNESDAY. THE COMBINATION OF STRONG WINDS AND HEAVY RAIN WILL BRING THE POSSIBILITY OF DOWNED TREES ACROSS THE REGION... ESPECIALLY AREAS UNDER A HIGH WIND WATCH.