JANUARY 1999 WEATHER SUMMARY
January was best characterized by persistent below average temperatures and snow to low elevations in the Bay Area hills, down to 1,500' on several occasions. Measurable snow fell (up to 6"!) in the Bakersfield area for the first time in over a quarter century in the middle of the month. Frost and freezes were frequent occurrences throughout the area, as well as in Pacifica on numerous occasions. By comparison, last year no frosts of significant amount occurred in Pacifica, while this year alone over 20 days with frost have occurred since early December, '98. The month started out very dry and coupled with the cold, dry December, one of the longest dry periods in normally our wettest months occurred. Almost 6 weeks of dry weather (except for our freakish snow on Dec. 20) finally came to an end on the 15th. It then rained for 12 out of 16 days. The pattern, while cold, began to take on a more normal Pacific coast feel with fronts swinging through the area every 36-48 hours. Total rain on 12 days this month was 5.87", a nearly average month (based on long term norms, but significantly under the over 8" we have averaged over the last 5 years). Heaviest rain event occurred on 1/29-1/30 when 1.24" fell in a 6 hour period. This was the first month since the onset of our current La Nina that we had anything close to normal rainfall, and for the year, we now have 13.80", which is about 70% of normal to date. Because of the cold temps, snowfall totals have also increased significantly in the Sierra, but water content is expected to be below normal due to drier snow than normal. To date, we have not experienced a true Pineapple Connection along the Central Coast as can sometimes occur in La Nina years, although the North Coast and the Pacific Northwest have been pummeled. The general pattern remains progressive, so prolonged intense rains do not appear likely in the near future...although in past years February has been a month where tropical rains can fall in large amounts.
MONTHLY CLIMATOLOGICAL SUMMARY for JAN. 1999
NAME: HOME CITY: Pacifica STATE: Ca ELEV: 540' LAT: 37.36'N LONG: 122.27'W
TEMPERATURE (°F), RAIN (in), WIND SPEED (mph)
HEAT COOL AVG
MEAN DEG DEG WIND DOM
DAY TEMP HIGH TIME LOW TIME DAYS DAYS RAIN SPEED HIGH TIME DIR
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1 49.3 59.4 2:30p 42.5 7:00a 14.0 0.0 0.00 1.5 15.0 3:00p N
2 56.5 63.2 3:00p 48.3 12:30a 9.3 0.0 0.00 6.3 24.0 8:30a NNE
3 57.1 61.9 1:30p 51.2 12:00m 8.4 0.0 0.00 5.7 28.0 3:30a NE
4 53.7 60.2 4:00p 48.9 8:30a 10.4 0.0 0.00 4.0 19.0 12:00p WNW
5 55.6 62.3 2:00p 49.4 12:00m 9.2 0.0 0.00 4.0 19.0 12:30a S
6 50.3 59.6 3:30p 44.3 8:00a 13.1 0.0 0.00 1.9 16.0 12:30p N
7 49.0 53.8 1:30p 43.7 10:30p 16.3 0.0 0.00 2.1 12.0 6:30a NNE
8 51.6 58.4 2:30p 43.5 12:30a 14.0 0.0 0.00 4.9 23.0 9:30p NNE
9 51.8 58.2 4:30p 44.7 8:30a 13.5 0.0 0.00 4.7 22.0 1:00p NNE
10 52.6 63.2 2:30p 47.9 3:00a 9.4 0.0 0.00 4.4 23.0 6:00a S
11 50.5 57.9 12:00p 46.4 8:00a 12.8 0.0 0.00 2.1 13.0 8:30p E
12 50.0 58.7 1:30p 44.1 8:00a 13.6 0.0 0.00 2.3 14.0 9:30p SSW
13 50.0 55.7 3:00p 45.7 11:30p 14.3 0.0 0.00 2.2 14.0 1:30p WNW
14 53.2 60.3 3:30p 47.0 3:00a 11.3 0.0 0.01 3.4 16.0 12:00p N
15 54.8 59.4 3:30p 51.3 2:30a 9.7 0.0 0.30 2.4 21.0 10:00p S
16 53.4 55.4 1:00p 50.6 11:30p 12.0 0.0 0.13 2.2 15.0 12:30a SSW
17 53.9 56.1 11:00a 51.2 12:30a 11.3 0.0 0.19 8.9 36.0 10:30p S
18 54.8 57.5 2:00p 53.2 12:00m 9.7 0.0 1.38 6.7 31.0 12:30a S
19 54.9 57.4 1:30p 53.3 12:30a 9.7 0.0 1.08 8.8 33.0 9:30p S
20 53.4 55.6 1:30a 51.1 2:30p 11.7 0.0 0.17 11.1 42.0 2:30p S
21 51.9 56.5 2:30p 48.1 8:00a 12.7 0.0 0.00 2.3 18.0 12:30a SSW
22 52.3 57.7 11:30a 49.6 3:30a 11.3 0.0 0.23 7.9 37.0 10:30p S
23 47.8 54.5 1:00a 40.9 10:30p 17.3 0.0 0.86 2.9 28.0 12:30a SSW
24 43.6 50.4 3:30p 38.3 3:30a 20.7 0.0 0.00 2.5 16.0 2:30p NNE
25 48.1 53.6 12:00p 44.0 4:00a 16.2 0.0 0.02 4.0 22.0 4:00p S
26 45.0 48.2 3:30p 41.6 11:30p 20.1 0.0 0.26 4.7 26.0 6:30a N
27 46.4 56.2 1:30p 40.8 5:00a 16.5 0.0 0.00 1.7 15.0 1:00p N
28 46.7 54.1 2:00p 41.2 5:00a 17.3 0.0 0.00 1.7 12.0 12:00p S
29 48.1 55.9 5:00p 42.7 3:30a 15.7 0.0 0.01 2.7 19.0 11:30a S
30 49.9 55.8 12:00p 42.7 4:30a 15.8 0.0 0.44 5.9 46.0 12:30p SSW
31 47.8 50.6 3:30p 42.7 12:00m 18.3 0.0 0.79 5.8 29.0 2:30p WNW
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51.1 63.2 2 38.3 24 415.7 0.0 5.87 4.2 46.0 30 S
Max >= 90.0: 0
Max <= 32.0: 0
Min <= 32.0: 0
Min <= 0.0: 0
Max Rain: 1.38 ON 1/18/99
Days of Rain: 12 (>.01 in) 11 (>.1 in) 2 (>1 in)
Heat Base: 65.0 Cool Base: 65.0 Method: (High + Low) / 2