Torrential downpours hit Oxnard, California, on Friday morning, with more than a month's worth of rain falling in only one hour.
The rain is from an offshore Pacific storm moving through the area. In addition to the deluge of rain, the National Weather Service (NWS) warned of a small tornado risk, wind gusts topping 40 miles per hour and widespread flooding. Wet weather is expected to continue through Friday.
Several Southern California residents shared photos of waterlogged roads on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday morning. Some photos showed flooding reaching midway up vehicle tires, with one account saying that emergency personnel were "stretched to the limit" in rescuing those stranded in the flooding.
Major street flooding in the Ventura, Oxnard, and Port Hueneme areas early Thursday morning as rain fell at 1-2 inches an hour and rescue personnel were stretched to the limit making rescues of dozens of people stranded in their vehicles https://t.co/ad5OQzDV60 pic.twitter.com/mZukG3z2dS
— Rich and Alex (@kvtaspeednews) December 21, 2023
The NWS Los Angeles office said on X that Oxnard Civic Center recorded more than 3 inches of rain in an hour—more than an inch above the monthly average.
Up until Thursday morning, Oxnard had received .62 inches of rain this month, all of it occurring this week, AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Heather Zehr told Newsweek.
"However, they have received 3.58 [inches] of rain so far this morning—and counting," Zehr said. "Most of that fell in just about an hour...so it's not surprising that that kind of rainfall led to the flooding they are experiencing now."
More rain is on the way, with Zehr forecasting up to 8 inches of rain could fall through Friday night. She said the heaviest rain will "spread from the Santa Barbara/Ventura/western L.A. coast today down into Orange/San Diego [counties] tonight."
One social media weather account on X called the storm "crazy."
"I'm sitting on the Del Norte off-ramp, cross winds were blowing just about every car on the freeway out of their lanes as you go west from here & sheet rain that was completely sideways," @805Weather posted just before 5 a.m. Eastern time.
The storm elicited several tornado warnings in the area, and the NWS also issued a special weather statement for Oxnard, San Buenaventura and Port Hueneme, warning people to seek shelter because a landspout was possible in the early morning hours, along with pea-sized hail. A landspout is a type of tornado that isn't associated with a mesocyclone. It's similar to a waterspout, but it occurs over land.
The storm could be a taste of what's to come this season, given El Niño, one of two climate patterns that greatly affect Earth's weather. La Niña culminated in the spring, ending a multiyear period in which the pattern influenced the weather.
El Niño started in June, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's most recent update gave it high odds of being historically strong.
That means parts of California, including Southern California, could see another wet winter after experiencing excessive rain and more than a dozen atmospheric rivers last winter.
About the writer
Anna Skinner is a Newsweek senior reporter based in Indianapolis. Her focus is reporting on the climate, environment and weather ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
