Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/435851
ByChristopherWeber The Associated Press LOS ANGELES The latest in a string of storms noisily marched across Southern California early Wednes- day, hurling lightning bolts, coating mountains with snow and unleashing downpours that triggered a freeway-blocking mudslide but missed most vulnera- ble areas. The storm exited the state by midday, but flash flood watches remained in effect through the after- noon in interior areas east and south of Los Angeles due to lingering shower ac- tivity. "It was rather rare to see lightning all night long as this storm system moved across the region," the Na- tional Weather Service said, noting that the tempest's instability was similar to a heavy rain event last week that produced no lightning at all. "Rain rates were intense in the stronger thunder- storms but the ... coverage was much less widespread and missed any significant burn area or other suscep- tible problem spot," NWS added. A weaker storm entered the northern end of the state Wednesday but rain- fall was expected to remain light and the system wasn't expected to spread farther south than central coast counties. California has been hit hard by rain and snow over the past week, but experts say it will take many storms to end a three-year drought. On Wednesday, a torrent of mud and rocks from a re- cently burned hillside cov- ered part of State Route 91 in Orange County before dawn. Cars and trucks were stuck for about 90 minutes and the eastbound lanes were shut for several hours. No injuries were reported. "It's pretty bad. It's about 2 feet deep," Jeff Dean, a motorcyclist who was stranded, told KABC-TV about the mud on the road- way. The lanes reopened by 8 a.m. but not before rush hour traffic was backed up for miles. After moving down the coast from Northern Cali- fornia, the second of back- to-back storms prompted temporary evacuations Tuesday night in Camarillo Springs, which was hit by mudslides last week. This time, the wildfire-scarred hillsides held above the community about 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Forecasters warned of pos- sible debris flows in several areas that had been burned in recent fires. Skies were clearing Wednesday after clouds dumped more than a half- inch on downtown Los An- geles and nearly an inch at Los Angeles Interna- tional Airport and in Bev- erly Hills. STRING OF STORMS California gets more rain, 1 big mudslide GREGORYBULL—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS A surfer rides a wave at Blacks Beach, Tuesday in San Diego. A new storm dumped more rain on already waterlogged parts California Tuesday, bringing large surf with it to Southern California. The Associated Press SANFRANCISCO The three prisoners who escaped from Alcatraz in one of the most famous and elaborate prison breaks in U.S. his- tory could have survived and made it to land, sci- entists concluded in a re- cent study. The three Dutch scien- tists, using the latest hy- draulic software and in- formation about tides on the night of the 1962 es- cape, said the three men could have made it to land north of the Golden Gate Bridge if they left between 11:00 p.m. and midnight. If they left before 11 p.m., the strong currents of San Francisco Bay would have carried them to the Pacific Ocean and death, the sci- entists said. Prison officials and fed- eral agents insisted at the time of the escape that the inmates — brothers John and Clarence Anglin and Frank Morris — perished, but their bodies were never found, continuing specula- tion that they survived. "Of course, this doesn't prove that" they survived, one of the scientists, Rolf Hut, a researcher at Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands, said in a news release about the study. "But the latest and best hydraulic model- ling information indicates that it was certainly pos- sible." The scientists presented their findings Tuesday at the American Geophysi- cal Union conference in San Francisco. The three prisoners were serving sentences for bank robbery when they pulled off the escape with stolen spoons, dummy heads and a raincoat raft. Their exploits were turned into the 1979 movie, "Es- cape from Alcatraz," star- ring Clint Eastwood as Morris. U.S. Marshal Michael Dyke, who inherited the unsolved case in 2003, told The Associated Press two years ago he didn't know whether any of the trio was still alive. But he had seen enough evidence to make him wonder. That evidence included credible reports that the Anglins' mother, for sev- eral years, received flow- ers delivered without a card and that the broth- ers attended her 1973 fu- neral disguised in women's clothes despite a heavy FBI presence. For their study, the Dutch scientists simulated scores of boat launches from different points on Alcatraz Island every 30 minutes between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. on the night of the escape. They also fac- tored in the possibility that the inmates paddled. The model that con- cluded they could have reached land north of the Golden Gate Bridge also found that any de- bris they released in the water would have floated toward another island in the bay. The researchers said they did not set out to study the Alcatraz escape. The project was initially intended to analyze flood risk to large industrial fa- cilities on the bay. SCIENTISTS' CONCLUSION Alcatraz escapees could have survived Washington 46/34 New York 44/33 Miami 78/60 Atlanta 59/39 Detroit 35/28 Houston 72/60 Chicago 31/23 Minneapolis 25/17 Kansas City 33/28 El Paso 59/34 Denver 43/20 Billings 40/28 Los Angeles 63/48 San Francisco 61/ 54 Seattle 53/45 AIRQUALITYFORECAST Whatitmeans:0-50:Good; 51-100:Moderate; 101-150:Unhealthyforsensitivepeople; 151+:Unhealthyforall. Source: Airnow.gov City Today'sairquality City Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W CALIFORNIA CITIES National and world forecast s-sunny,pc-partly cloudy,c-cloudy,sh-showers,t-thunderstorms,r-rain,sf-snow flurries,sn-snow,i-ice City Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W Summary National Extremes World Extremes North and South America Asia, Australia Africa CarsonCity Hawthorne Reno Herlong Lovelock Sacramento Yuba City Napa Ukiah Chico Corning Lakeview Alturas Susanville Redding Red Bluff Laytonville Fort Bragg Point Arena Eureka Redway Mount Shasta Yreka Crescent City Ashland Shown is today's weather. Temperatures are today's highs and tonight's lows. Shown are today's noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. ALMANAC Precipitation Temperatures ALLERGY REPORT Pollenlevels Source: National Allergy Bureau TODAY'S UV INDEX (The higher the number, the faster skin damage will occur.) Extreme Very high High Moderate Low SUN SETTINGS, MOON PHASES Sunrise Sunset Moonrise Moonset Hoursofsunlight River Levels SacramentoRiver Flood 7a.m. 24-hr Stage yest. chg. Lake Levels Elevation Yesterday Storage (acre-feet) Percent Capacity Q: A: FRIDAY 53° 47° SATURDAY 54° 47° A co uple of aft ernoon showers Mostly cloudy , a lit tle rain SUNDAY 59° 45° Fo g in the a.m.; partly sunny MONDAY 62° 46° Ar eas of fo g in the morning TODAY 53° 49° Rather cloudy. Cloudy with a little rain toward dawn tonight. High ....................................................................... 54° Low ........................................................................ 49° Normal high ......................................................... 54° Normal low ........................................................... 37° Record high ............................................. 72° in 2011 Record low .............................................. 25° in 2006 Humidity noon today ........................................ 83% 24 hours through 2 p.m. yesterday ................. 0.64" Month to date ................................................... 8.67" Normal month to date ..................................... 2.12" Season to date ................................................ 15.28" Normal season to date .................................... 6.94" Red Bluff through 2 p.m. yesterday Chico .................................................................. Good Napa ........................................................... Moderate Red Bluff .............................................. Not available Redding ..................................................... Moderate Yuba City ........................................................... Good Allergy, dust and dander today: Beneficial Grass .................. Absent Mold ............... Moderate Trees .................. Absent Weeds ................ Absent 1 Highest at 11 a.m. Today 7:26 a.m. 4:45 p.m. 3:44 a.m. 2:29 p.m. Friday 7:27 a.m. 4:46 p.m. 4:46 a.m. 3:12 p.m. 9 hr., 19 min. Dec21 New Dec28 First Full Jan4 Last Jan13 aboveBendBridge......................27 ...........9.50 ....... -0.10 atHamiltonCity.........................148 ......135.99 ......+1.14 atOrdFerry................................114 ......104.54 ......+1.75 atRedBluffDiversionDam.......253 ......242.40 .......none atTehamaBridge ......................213 ......206.00 ......+0.20 atVinaWoodsonBridge............183 ......173.43 ......+1.01 BlackButte ....................451.46..............57,521 .....40.0% LakeOroville..................688.44.........1,168,551 .....31.3% LakeShasta ...................922.78.........1,463,175 .....32.1% LakeTrinity..................2219.07............713,264 .....26.9% Whiskeytown...............1199.46............208,521 .....86.5% Weather Trivia ™ Where do most storms enter the United States? 60 percent arrive in the Pacific Northwest. Today Friday Anaheim 65/46/pc 65/47/pc Bakersfield 60/42/pc 62/45/pc Chula Vista 65/47/pc 66/50/pc Crescent City 59/51/c 57/51/r Death Valley 64/42/pc 65/41/pc Eureka 60/49/c 57/48/r Fremont 61/51/c 61/51/r Fresno 57/44/pc 58/44/r Glendale 63/47/pc 64/49/pc Huntington Beach 64/52/pc 64/54/pc Irvine 63/47/pc 63/49/pc Lake Tahoe 42/30/c 42/29/r Long Beach 64/47/pc 64/51/pc Los Angeles 63/48/pc 65/50/pc Mammoth Mountain 39/23/pc 41/24/sn Modesto 58/47/c 57/47/r Monterey 63/49/pc 62/51/r Moreno Valley 60/40/pc 62/42/pc Napa 57/49/c 58/46/r Needles 62/42/pc 62/44/pc Oakland 60/51/c 59/49/r Oxnard 63/50/pc 64/51/pc Redding 52/49/c 52/47/r Riverside 59/40/pc 61/42/pc Sacramento 57/50/c 57/49/r San Bernardino 61/37/pc 62/41/pc San Diego 64/51/pc 64/54/pc San Francisco 61/54/c 62/52/r San Jose 60/49/c 60/49/r San Luis Obispo 63/46/pc 64/48/r Santa Ana 66/50/pc 66/53/pc Santa Barbara 64/47/pc 63/48/pc Santa Clarita 61/42/pc 62/43/pc Stockton 58/48/c 56/48/r Ventura 63/49/pc 63/51/pc Yosemite Valley 48/35/c 48/35/sn Today Friday Albuquerque 46/28/pc 46/26/s Atlanta 59/39/pc 60/45/c Baltimore 43/30/pc 43/27/pc Boston 45/31/pc 39/28/s Buffalo 35/26/sf 31/21/c Chicago 31/23/c 33/26/c Cincinnati 35/26/c 38/29/c Dallas 60/45/r 53/37/r Denver 43/20/pc 44/22/pc Detroit 35/28/c 35/26/pc El Paso 59/34/r 57/31/s Fargo 23/16/c 31/21/c Honolulu 81/71/s 83/70/s Houston 72/60/t 64/47/r Indianapolis 31/23/c 34/26/c Kansas City 33/28/sn 35/28/c Las Vegas 53/37/pc 55/37/pc Louisville 38/29/c 41/33/c Miami 78/60/s 77/65/s Minneapolis 25/17/pc 31/26/c New Orleans 70/56/c 71/55/r New York City 44/33/pc 40/30/s Oklahoma City 47/38/r 45/29/c Brisk and colder conditions are forecast for the Northeast today. Snow will wind down over northern New England, while snow showers occur downwind of lakes Erie and Ontario. Plenty of sunshine is forecast for the middle and southern Atlantic Seaboard. Spotty snow and ice are ex- pected over part of the central Plains to the Ohio Valley. Areas of rain will slowly expand over Texas and the southern Plains with spotty showers over parts of Arizona and New Mexico. A storm is fore- cast to push across the southern Rockies toward the South Central states. High ................. 81° in Fort Lauderdale, FL Low ............................. -6° in Langdon, ND High .................. 112° in Winton, Australia Low ............ -67° in Sebyan-Kyuel', Russia Bogota 66/48/r 66/49/sh Buenos Aires 86/71/pc 90/68/pc Caracas 86/72/pc 86/72/pc Ensenada 63/48/pc 67/49/pc Mexico City 74/44/pc 75/42/s Montreal 34/18/sn 25/8/s Rio de Janeiro 89/74/pc 88/74/pc Tijuana 64/47/pc 66/48/pc Toronto 35/23/sf 32/18/pc Vancouver 49/43/c 48/42/sh Orlando 70/47/pc 72/54/pc Philadelphia 44/33/pc 43/28/s Phoenix 63/45/pc 63/45/s Pittsburgh 33/28/c 35/26/c Portland, ME 42/27/sn 36/24/s Portland, OR 52/44/c 51/43/sh St. Louis 35/31/sn 38/30/c Salt Lake City 44/29/c 47/33/pc Seattle 53/45/c 51/43/sh Tucson 56/38/c 59/37/s Washington, DC 46/34/pc 47/32/pc Cairo 71/55/pc 69/55/c Casablanca 64/45/s 64/46/s Johannesburg 74/56/c 76/58/pc Kinshasa 88/71/t 89/72/t Lagos 90/75/pc 90/75/pc Nairobi 82/59/t 80/58/t Tripoli 63/48/s 63/52/s Baghdad 64/48/pc 65/49/c Beijing 40/21/s 40/20/s Hong Kong 64/55/pc 60/56/r Jerusalem 63/47/pc 60/47/c Kabul 55/27/s 52/22/s Manila 83/75/r 84/76/c Melbourne 78/51/sh 66/52/c New Delhi 69/45/pc 70/44/pc Seoul 27/16/s 38/25/c Singapore 86/76/t 86/77/r Sydney 79/63/t 74/62/s Tehran 51/39/pc 53/41/pc Tokyo 47/38/s 48/44/s Amsterdam 53/49/sh 51/43/r Athens 62/48/pc 60/47/pc Belgrade 47/37/s 52/37/s Berlin 54/50/c 54/39/r Budapest 47/40/pc 55/39/s Dublin 57/40/r 46/41/pc London 58/50/c 52/40/r Madrid 58/34/s 57/32/s Moscow 34/28/sf 37/35/sn Paris 55/49/c 53/41/r Rome 60/42/s 60/48/s Stockholm 40/37/r 41/31/s Vienna 50/47/c 57/44/s Zurich 51/45/r 51/43/pc 47/29 48/30 46/31 46/29 46/24 57/50 56/47 57/49 56/49 53/48 54/47 38/32 41/32 44/31 52/49 53/49 53/43 58/53 57/53 60/49 57/46 44/38 48/36 59/51 48/37 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2014 235So.MainSt.,RedBluff 527-1657 FurnitureDepot MON.-FRI.9:00-6:00 SAT. 9:00-5:00 • SUN. 11:00-5:00 all Recliners SPECIALS SPECIALS Continue Beautyrest mattress sets $ 200 OFF $ 100 OFF www.tehamaestatesretirement.com FALLCOUPONSPECIAL | WEATHER | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014 8 B