Rainfall totals still far below normal; warm weather ahead
As mud and debris cleanup continued Monday in many parts of Los Angeles County, meteorologists said the area registered only enough rain to make a “small dent in our rainfall deficit.”
From Wednesday through Monday morning, downtown L.A. registered 4.52 inches of rain, bringing the total rain since July 1 to 5.72 inches. Although the rainfall was significant, David Sweet of the National Weather Service said the normal amount this time of year is 11.46 inches.
It would take several of these types of storms to bring rainfall for the season to normal levels, Sweet said.
“Remember, this is the third drier-than-normal year in a row,” he said, adding that 11 of the last 15 years in Los Angeles have seen below-normal rainfall.
Cleanup crews continued their work around the county, with efforts mostly centered near the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.
Glendora city manager Chris Jeffers said that in a 60-hour period during the storms, authorities in the city responded to 97 incidents which were “relatively minor.”
Jeffers said he received an update Sunday night that mud flowed into three structures, two of which were garages and the other an outbuilding.
“In the end, our preparation and mitigation plan worked,” Jeffers said. “Our crews and hundreds of volunteers did an incredible job and with every incident there is a degree of luck involved. We certainly received our fair share as seen by the lack of moderate or heavy damage.”
Crews spent much of Sunday cleaning debris and mud out of city streets but some cleanup in Glendora remains, Jeffers said.
No additional rain is forecast for the week.
“A ridge of high pressure is building along the West Coast again,” Sweet said. “No rain in L.A. for the next seven days.”
It’s back to “clear skies and warm temperatures,” he said.
In downtown L.A. on Monday, the high temperature is expected in the mid-60s. It’s expected to hit 70 on Tuesday, hover in the high 60s and mid 70s through the week and gradually warm to as high as the 80s over the weekend.
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