Don’t Blame El Nino, It’s Old Man Winter

Heavy rain that was supposed to batter Orange County areas besieged by high tides and heavy surf never appeared Saturday, but forecasters said Mother Nature is saving up for this week.

A pair of moisture-laden storms will begin drenching the area tonight and will continue until Wednesday, said meteorologist Chad Omitt of WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times. The storms could drop 2 to 3 inches of rain in the valleys, with much greater amounts in the hills, he said.

“This is just a wintertime pattern,” he said, and the amounts can’t even be blamed on El Nino.

Forecasters had predicted about an inch of rain to fall on Orange County on Saturday, comparable to the downpour Thursday, Omitt said.

But the storm pushed farther south than expected, and the rainfall totals were “not very impressive at all. El Toro didn’t even report any,” he said. “It didn’t turn out to be the storm that was advertised.”

Santa Ana recorded .13 inches of rain, and only a trace fell in Newport Beach, he said.

Public-safety officials reported no further storm-related damage Saturday, while residents from Seal Beach to Capistrano Shores mopped up the day after 10- to 15-foot waves crashed onto the beach.

Saturday’s high temperatures ranged from 61 degrees in San Juan Capistrano to 68 in Santa Ana, with lows in the low 50s. Temperatures will hold steady until Tuesday, Omitt said, when the high might not break 60 degrees and the low will hover around 50.

“By Thursday and Friday, things will start to warm up and dry out,” he said.