The first rains of the season arrived in San Benito County late Sunday night and dropped more than an inch of water on most of the area by 9 a.m. Monday morning.
“We virtually had no rain through October, maybe a few hundredths (of an inch),” explained Bob Benjamin, a forecaster with the National Weather Service’s Monterey and San Francisco area office. “This is the first appreciable rain we’ve received for the rain year, which started 1 October.”
The heaviest rains will be tapering off by mid-day and then there will be more scattered showers, Benjamin explained. There is a slight chance of a thunderstorm this evening, he said.
As to whether El Niño is having an influence on this storm, it is hard to say, the forecaster said. El Niño refers to the warming of the waters along the equator in the eastern pacific but is hard to say the effect of this on any particular storm, Benjamin explained. This storm doesn’t have the strong signature typical of more El Niño storms, which include moisture from the tropics, he said.
Forecasters had expected between a half and a quarter of an inch of water from the storm moving in from Monterey and entering northern San Benito County, Benjamin explained. Clouds had dropped more than that by Monday morning.
A site six miles north of Hollister reported the most rain in the county between midnight and 9 a.m. with 1.37 inches of water, the forecaster said. Two sites in Hollister reported 1.10 inches and 1.02 inches respectively, he said. In San Juan Bautista, another site captured 1.20 inches, while the collection spot at Pinnacles National Park received just a little over a half inch, he said.
Benjamin spoke with the Free Lance just before 10 a.m. while the rains where still falling steadily in downtown Hollister.
“I think we’ll be definitely adding to those numbers as the day progresses,” he said.
