Surfers, Boogie Boarders Overflow With Praise for Storm Fallout

Blown in with the rainy drizzle, surf was up New Year’s Day, and surfers and boogie boarders thronged to the coast--bobbing like sea lions in the waves in hopes of taking advantage of the finely formed curls.

“It’s killer,” said 19-year-old John Miller of Ventura, back on holiday from his Army posting in Ft. Sill, Okla., clutching his boogie board under his arm. “I come back to this. It’s like a New Year’s/Christmas present.”

Robb Wilson drove all the way from Long Beach to surf the waves at the end of California Street on New Year’s Day.

“It’s pretty good size, not too cold. The shape’s really good and the waves are big,” he said.

He said there was some “yellow foam floating around out there,” but it was worth braving the polluted, rain-churned waters to ride the waves.

The moderate surf--sets of waves ranging from 3 to 5 feet--was expected to decrease today, according to Mallory Ham of the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

But the drizzle that drenched Ventura County on Wednesday is expected to continue intermittently through today, meteorologists said. Some communities, such as Thousand Oaks, had no recorded rainfall by Wednesday evening, while almost two-tenths of an inch accumulated at Casitas Dam.

Clouds and scattered showers are expected through the weekend as well, with temperatures in the low 50s and 60s, said Jon Erdman, a meteorologist for WeatherData Inc.

Another storm near Hawaii is poised to hit California on Saturday night and could bring more rain to Ventura County, he said.

After that storm, Ventura may finally get a respite from the string of rainstorms that has soaked the county this week. “Things look drier out in the Pacific after that. But there’s still one more waiting out there,” Erdman said.

Despite the overcast skies for the past week, the Pacific storms have delivered far less rain than anticipated to Ventura County. As Northern California communities cope with flooding and mudslides, fire-scarred hillsides in Ventura and Santa Paula have stayed firm. Less than 1 inch of rain has fallen on most parts of the county since Christmas, with the mountainous regions receiving 1 to 2 inches.

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County Rainfall

Here are rainfall figures from the Ventura County Flood Control Department for the 24-hour period ending at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. Oct. 1 is the beginning of the official rain year.

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Rainfall Rainfall Normal rainfall Location last 24 hours since Oct. 1 to date Camarillo 0.08 7.97 04.42 Casitas Dam 0.16 16.34 07.25 Casitas Rec. Center 0.16 14.69 7.65 Fillmore 0.04 12.58 6.27 Matilija Dam 0.12 18.78 7.82 Moorpark 0.04 9.37 4.580 Upper Ojai 0.08 5.95 6.73 Oxnard 0.04 8.88 4.35 Piru 0.00 9.00 5.14 Port Hueneme 0.04 8.59 4.37 Santa Paula 0.04 11.23 5.63 Simi Valley 0.08 8.99 4.35 Thousand Oaks 0.00 9.11 4.63 Ventura Govt. Center 0.04 9.21 4.83

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