The biggest storm ever

DENNIS McTIGHE

Sorry ‘bout last week.

My dog ate my homework. Wait, I don’t have a dog. Actually I had

cerebral cramps.

This column is dedicated to Roger Vega, who is now in heaven,

looking down on me to see if my spelling and grammar are correct.

Nov. 10, 4:30 p.m. was a first for Southern California.

The Doppler Radar revealed a solid block of deep red over all of

South Central Los Angeles -- that means the tops of the supercells

were in excess of 40,000 feet.

It was the most intense thunderstorm ever recorded anywhere in

California, ever. Winter or summer, I don’t care where, coast,

mountains, deserts, monsoon, El Nino, blah, blah, blah -- the

strongest ever.

It was as strong as a tornado alley supercell in May in Oklahoma.

I mean 5.36 inches in two hours in Compton! That’s an inch more than

we got in the whole season two years ago! Golf ball-size hail that

piled up into 3-foot drifts that were still being shoveled up the day

after!

The gang down at Scripps tabbed it as a 500-year event. This storm

of Wed., Nov. 10 will surely be the heavyweight king for possibly

centuries to come!

Now, in second place -- Dec. 6-7, 1997 (Laguna exclusively)

In third -- March 1, 1983

In fourth -- Aug. 22, 2003 (Joshua Tree)

In fifth -- Sept. 30 -- Oct. 1, 1981

In sixth -- Nov. 8-9, 1967

In seventh -- Aug. 6, 1984 (Julian)

In eighth -- Aug. 4, 1972 (29 Palms)

In ninth -- July 26, 1996 (Laguna exclusively)

Had enough of my data base, walking dot com babble? Me too!

God bless you Roger!

* DENNIS McTIGHE is a Laguna Beach resident. He earned a

bachelor’s in earth sciences from UC San Diego and was a U.S. Air

Force weather forecaster at Hickman Air Force Base, Hawaii.