While it may take until the end of the weekend, there are some signs that a more active storm pattern will return to the region. In the short term, the west coast ridge of high pressure will continue to keep us warm and dry, nudging storms too far to the north to give us much chance of getting any water out of them. High temperatures will rise to near 70 degrees Tuesday and Wednesday before falling back to the low 60s on Thursday. Late Saturday, the ridge finally breaks down to allow the first of what could be several storms to move into the region, with valley rain a decent possibility, but mountain rain and snow almost a sure bet on Sunday.

Since February is now in the books, and not impressively so from a precipitation standpoint, I’ve been getting a lot of questions like to following from former Lieutenant Governor Sue Wagner: “El Niño…Where is it? Has it gone away?”

It’s easy to get lulled into the belief that once there’s a El Niño out there, there will be a continuous series of storms throughout the winter, but it ain’t necessarily so. More on this tomorrow.