How much rain did week of storms bring to SLO County? Here’s what your area got

Mackenzie Shuman
·2 min read

It’s been an eventful weather week for San Luis Obispo County to say the least.

The series of storms that started on Saturday brought heavy rain, flooded roadways, rock slides and power outages before a bona fide tornado capped it all, whipping through Grover Beach on Wednesday, leveling trees and damaging buildings in a matter of seconds.

For the most part, SLO County dodged the worst of the atmospheric river storms as their epicenters focused on Southern California. Areas such as the mountains around Los Angeles and San Diego got hit hard with dangerous flooding and mudslides taking out entire buildings.

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Sunday for Southern California counties including San Luis Obispo County due to the damaging rain and heavy snowfall.

A rainbow breaks through storm clouds over Cayucos just after sunrise on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024. The pier was closed on Tuesday after sustaining damage from the weekend storms.
A rainbow breaks through storm clouds over Cayucos just after sunrise on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024. The pier was closed on Tuesday after sustaining damage from the weekend storms.

Along the Central Coast, the storms hit hard on Sunday with hurricane-force winds offshore and heavy rain in the afternoon to evening. Continuing into Monday, San Luis Obispo County saw more rain and high winds.

Although Tuesday mostly brought a break in the weather, rain continued off and on. Then, a freak storm late Wednesday caused a tornado to touch down in Grover Beach, knocking down trees and power lines and damaging buildings.

Up next, sunny skies and dry weather are predicted to continue throughout San Luis Obispo County in the coming days, but the National Weather Service wrote in its forecast Thursday that there could be a “return to wet weather by next weekend or early the following week.”

SLO County rainfall totals

So how much rain did we get during the first week of February?

The Weather Service’s data show the county received between 1.47 inches in the Carrizo Plain to more than 5 inches at Rocky Butte in the mountains northeast of Cambria.

Here are the latest 7-day rainfall totals through Thursday morning, according to the Weather Service:

  • Rocky Butte: 5.08 inches

  • Lake Nacimiento: 4.77 inches

  • Lopez Lake: 4.46 inches

  • Santa Margarita Lake: 3.9 inches

  • Las Tablas south of Lake Nacimiento: 3.83 inches

  • Highway 41 at Toro Creek Road: 3.5 inches

  • Los Osos: 3.22 inches

  • Santa Margarita: 2.97 inches

  • Bald Mountain: 2.87 inches

  • Branch Mountain: 2.61 inches

  • Pismo Beach: 2.54 inches

  • Davis Peak: 2.44 inches

  • Shell Peak: 2.4 inches

  • Highway 58 off East Pozo Road: 2.29 inches

  • Nipomo: 2.29 inches

  • Arroyo Grande: 2.28 inches

  • Atascadero: 2.16 inches

  • Templeton: 2.09 inches

  • Cambria: 1.99 inches

  • San Luis Obispo: 1.97 inches

  • Oceano: 1.92 inches

  • Paso Robles: 1.8 inches

  • Shandon: 1.63 inches

  • Carrizo Plain: 1.47 inches