El Centro, California higher than normal precipitation, at times bringing heavy rain. The precipitation in the Winter months is predominantly rain showers from the occasional winter storms. At times these storms bring cold temperatures to El Centro and surrounding cities, and mountain snowfall to the nearby Mountains. Snow is almost totally unknown in the town, except for a powerful winter storm that covered the entire valley with 4 inches snow on December 12, 1934 and a very brief fall of sleet mixed with hail during a shower in December 1967. On average there are about 15 days that dip into the mid to
Backscatter diameter of the target multiplied by its inherent reflective properties, provided the wavelength is larger than the particle diameter (Rayleigh scattering). Water is almost 4 times more reflective than ice but droplets are much smaller than snow flakes or hail stones. So the backscattering is dependent on a mix of these two factors. The strongest backscatter comes from hail and large graupel (solid ice) due to their sizes, but non-Rayleigh (Mie scattering) effects can confuse interpretation. Another strong return is from melting snow or wet sleet, as they combine size and water reflectivity. They often show up as much higher