Monday’s monster storm made Jan. 22 the fourth wettest day in San Diego since at least 1850.
All told, an incredible 2.73 inches of rain washed over San Diego. From Southcrest to Ocean Beach to Carlsbad, flash floods swept the region, leaving millions in damages in their wake.
In San Diego alone, where both Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor Todd Gloria declared a state of emergency, city officials estimated the thousand-year storm wreaked anywhere from $6 to $7 million in damages. The rain turned freeways into muddy rapids, sweeping away cars. The water uprooted some trolley tracks and left as many as 100 homes uninhabitable in the neighborhoods of Southcrest and Mountain View. Fire Chief Colin Stowell said his department made more than 100 rescues in Southcrest alone and dozens more citywide
The downtown library, city police headquarters and multiple city-backed homeless service facilities were also initially plagued by flooding. While city buildings have since reopened, residents of two homeless shelters remained elsewhere Tuesday. Volunteers gathered clothing, bedding and other supplies for unhoused people whose belongings were ruined and nonprofit Alpha Project helped some residents of its damaged Barrio Logan shelter retrieve property that could be salvaged.
The full toll of damages is still yet to be taken, as workers countywide continue to assess damages. The county, which declared its own state of emergency late Monday, released a survey Tuesday so residents can report storm damage.
“This is going to take weeks and months to repair,” Gloria said Tuesday.
What Was Up with That Rain?
Our MacKenzie Elmer contacted the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography to ask, what’s up with all that rain yesterday?
While the weather models are still modeling to determine the exact cause, scientists are pretty sure a unique kind of storm called an atmospheric river is to blame.
What is that? Atmospheric rivers are bands of flowing water vapor in the sky. They live lower in our atmosphere, often beneath the clouds, which means it’s difficult for satellites to pick them up. It’s why the U.S. military flies aircraft equipped with sensors through them to understand their dynamics, climate scientist Julie Kalansky said.
They ride on currents of air known as jet streams that are formed by the turning of the Earth, and why these sky rivers travel in a westerly direction (west to east), picking up moisture from the oceans, often in the tropics, and dumping it along the world’s western coasts.
Monday’s deluge dropped over four inches in a matter of hours in some parts of San Diego. But this atmospheric river was a weaker, offshore storm, unlike the series of severe rivers that pummeled northern California last January. Topography can have an impact on where atmospheric rivers deliver their rain. Mountains quickly drive air up causing all that moisture to condense and rain out.
This storm hit unstable air masses upon its arrival to San Diego, causing the atmospheric river to cry out its contents in short order.
As humans continue to burn fossil fuels causing the climate to warm quickly, atmospheric rivers are expected to get more intense.
“Projections show that as temperatures increase, the atmosphere is able to hold more water,” Kalansky said. “That means more precipitation in atmospheric rivers.”
Song of the Week
Pinback, “Tripoli”: Pinback, probably unsurprisingly, is one of our Jakob McWhinney’s all-time favorite San Diego bands. Led by the formidable duo of Armistead Burwell Smith IV and Rob Crow, Pinback produced some of the most atmospheric and thoughtful indie pop to ever come out of this city. There are easily a dozen Pinback songs McWhinney would have chosen for “Song of the Week.” Heck, even the band’s big hits, “Fortress,” and “Penelope,” are certified bops. But since he could only choose one, he landed on the first Pinback song he ever heard, “Tripoli.” The song contains Pinback’s trademark intricately layered vocals and picking parts.
Like what you hear? Pinback played Casbah last night and will play again tonight. Unfortunately for all of us, except Casbah I guess, both shows sold out.
Do you have a “Song of the Week” suggestion? Shoot us an email and a sentence or two about why you’ve been bumping this song lately. Friendly reminder: all songs should be by local artists!
In Other News
- The California State University system reached a tentative contract agreement Monday with the union representing 29,000 faculty members. (Union-Tribune)
- San Diego County supervisors voted 3-2 Tuesday to back Proposition 1, a behavioral health infrastructure bond championed by Gov. Gavin Newsom that’s on the March ballot. Proposition 1 would not increase taxes but it would allow the state to keep more of a tax on people who earn more than $1 million per year passed in 2005. The proposal would allow the state to borrow money against that to build mental health facilities and hire workers.
- TwitchCon, a convention for the wildly popular live-streaming platform Twitch has inked a deal to stay in San Diego through 2028. (Union-Tribune)
- Months after the final e-scooter company bailed on San Diego, the City Council is working on new guidelines in hopes of luring them back. (NBC 7)
- County Supervisors voted unanimously to approve millions in funding to aid childcare providers. (City News Service)
The Morning Report was written by Jakob McWhinney, Lisa Halverstadt and MacKenzie Elmer. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.
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