More rain is on the way, but then it’s clear sailing
Southern Californians should brace for yet another rainstorm late today, but can look forward to an otherwise dry holiday season.
The weather system that poured 1.23 inches of rain on downtown Los Angeles Tuesday and early Wednesday will drop a much smaller amount before moving on, said Bob Smerbeck, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather.com.
FOR THE RECORD:
Beach photograph: A caption describing a beach scene that accompanied a weather story in Thursday’s California section said the photograph was taken in Playa Vista. It was taken at Dockweiler State Beach, near Los Angeles International Airport.
“L.A. looks dry after Thursday night,” he said. “And this storm won’t be as dramatic as this past one.”
Today’s storm, which is predicted to last a few hours this afternoon and evening, will be powered by strong winds and low-level clouds left behind from Tuesday’s rain, Smerbeck said.
He expects one-tenth to a quarter of an inch of rainfall in the Los Angeles Basin.
Tuesday’s storm raised Los Angeles County’s total rainfall since July 1 to 3.34 inches, above the average of 2.85 inches for this time of the year, said Jamie Meier, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
It was the first time downtown had had an inch of rain in 24 hours since August 2006.
Nearly 4 inches of rain was recorded in L.A. County mountains Wednesday morning, Meier said. Minor flooding occurred in some areas, including Malibu Canyon and Santa Barbara County, but the soaking caused no major mudslides.
The California Highway Patrol responded to 280 collisions in L.A. County, from 5 p.m. Tuesday to 5 a.m. Wednesday, but none were major and none blocked major roads, said Officer Francisco Villalobos.
During the same period last week, the CHP handled 75 collisions.
Power outages were reported in the San Fernando Valley after four stations that service Cal State Northridge failed, said Joe Ramallo, spokesman for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
The failures had a ripple effect that left 14,000 customers in the Valley without power for eight minutes about 7 p.m. Tuesday. Some parts of the campus were still powerless at 5:30 p.m. . Two thousand customers in Los Feliz also experienced outages.
Times staff writer Molly Hennessy-Fiske contributed to this report.
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