L.A. rainstorm does little to quench region’s thirst

The storm system that moved through Southern California over the last two days left Los Angeles thirsty for more and will tease the region through the weekend with only an occasional spritz.

Light showers continued to drizzle over L.A. County early Friday, but “basically it’s just residual moisture,” said meteorologist Curt Kaplan with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

Over the last 48 hours, areas such as Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo have seen much more rain than Los Angeles, as has the Bay Area, which saw minor flooding.

In the L.A. basin, rainfall totals ranged from a little over a tenth of an inch to nearly a quarter-inch. Inland Avalon had one of the highest totals, with nearly half an inch.

In the valleys, rain totals over the past two days ranged from less than a tenth of an inch in areas such as Burbank to up to one-third of an inch in places such as San Fernando. The mountains and foothills saw up to a quarter of an inch.

Downtown Los Angeles saw just .09 inch.

“This really hasn’t done much for us in terms of putting a dent in anything in terms of the drought,” Kaplan said.

Downtown L.A.’s normal total precipitation for this point in the weather service’s rain year, which began July 1, would be 8.71 inches. Currently L.A. has only received 1.2 inches of rain. And since Jan. 1, just 0.23 inches, Kaplan said.

“We’re still quite a ways behind,” Kaplan said.

Friday will be partly to mostly cloudy with the potential for some drizzle, and there will be a somewhat “gloomy” trend continuing through the weekend, he said.

There’s a 20% chain of rain through Saturday in L.A. County, but Kaplan said any precipitation may not even be measurable.

Temperatures over the weekend will be mostly cool. In downtown L.A., the normal temperature for this time of year is 68 degrees, but the forecast calls for the low- to mid-60s Friday.

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ari.bloomekatz@latimes.com