Rock Garden Bar & Grill's wind damage: Wind damage causes the Rock Garden Bar & Grill to delay their soft opening.
A rainbow is visible on the north horizon looking from Highway 111, north of Tramway Road in Palm Springs, as rain clouds begin to make a pass through San Gorgonio Pass. Omar Ornelas/The Desert Sun
Clouds engulf Mount San Jacinto as seen looking southwest Monday during a weather system moving into the Coachella Valley. Omar Ornelas/The Desert Sun
For a 7-day weather forecast go to mydesert.com/weather.
Wind damage caused the Rock Garden Bar & Grill on Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs to delay its soft opening. Marilyn Chung/The Desert Sun
More
You can put away the umbrellas, Coachella Valley. The rain and wind will subside today, and the mercury will start climbing.
Light breezes up to only 16 mph will move through the valley, AccuWeather.com meteorologist Mike Pigott said Monday.
The temperature, which peaked Monday at 60 degrees — 10 degrees below normal — will also climb back into the low 70s, Pigott said.
For a 7-day weather forecast go to mydesert.com/weather.
The mercury should hit the low 80s by Thursday, when the valley will see clear skies.
“I don't think you're going to see any major systems for quite a while,” Pigott said.
The forecast came Monday night after about 0.03 inches of rain fell across Palm Springs.
It was the first rainfall recorded this year, down from the 0.88 inches that is normal by now.
It dampened valley streets, leading to several minor crashes and worsening the cleanup from Saturday's near-hurricane-force winds of up to 70 mph that toppled trees and power lines.
Because of the storms, Gene Autry Trail will remain closed until Wednesday, Palm Springs police said Monday. The severe storm damaged 15 power poles along that main road.
Sgt. Mike Kovaleff recommended using Indian Canyon or Date Palm drives as alternate routes to and from Interstate 10, though Date Palm was overwhelmed by traffic Monday.
Nine of the nearly 31,000 Southern California Edison customers who lost power during the wind storm were still without power late Monday.
Roughly 160 more customers lost power Monday afternoon because of the rainstorm that blew in, spokeswoman Lauren Bartlett said. They had power restored by late Monday.
The sound of buzzsaws and bulldozers could also be heard throughout the past two days, as crews feverishly worked to clear roads of trees and branches.
It appeared that Palm Springs, where nearly every street showed signs of the storm from uprooted trees to palm fronds and other debris scattered about, took the brunt of the storm.
The city declared a state of emergency, which helps with expenses to call in extra safety and public works personnel necessary to take care of traffic issues and clean up after the storm.
City leaders did not have an estimate Monday of how much money the cleanup will cost.
Kate McGinty is a reporter for The Desert Sun. She covers public safety and the city of Desert Hot Springs. She can be reached at (760) 778-6451, kate.mcginty@thedesertsun.com, or @TDSKateM.
