Storm Brings Winds, Rain to Southland

A storm front brought wind, cooler weather and rain into Southern California from the Pacific on Wednesday, and the National Weather Service said two more storms are lined up at sea, waiting their turn to keep things damp and cloudy through the weekend.

Until Wednesday, Weather Service statisticians reported, this January had been one of the warmest and most arid on record, with temperatures running about 9 degrees above normal and with only four rainy days that produced a grand total of .16 of an inch of rain downtown.

But all that, meteorologists said, is changing now. The Pacific storm track, they explained, is dropping southward--which puts Los Angeles on its lower edge.

Rain was spotty Wednesday. Drizzles started shortly after 4 p.m. in central Los Angeles and continued intermittently through the night.

One major traffic accident--a semi-trailer rig jackknifed, spilling acetylene tanks and tying up southbound lanes of Interstate 5 in Sylmar--was blamed on the rain, but no major injuries were reported and utility companies said they had no major power failure reports by early evening.

The rain was heavier elsewhere during the day: Santa Barbara reported .25 of an inch by late afternoon, while .05 of an inch had fallen in Culver City, .02 of an inch at Torrance, Westwood and Woodland Hills, with traces at Avalon, Mt. Wilson, Northridge, San Gabriel and Santa Monica.

But light rain was reported later in the night throughout the area from Long Beach to Ontario and from Point Mugu to San Clemente.

Snow began to fall by late afternoon in the Tehachapi Mountains and the snow level was expected to drop to 6,000 feet or below before morning. A travelers’ advisory was in effect for the Southern California mountains and the Owens Valley, warning of winds gusting east to southeast from 25 to 35 m.p.h., and small-craft advisories were in effect for inner and outer coastal waters from Point Conception to the Mexican border.

High temperature at Los Angeles Civic Center on Wednesday was 76 degrees, with relative humidity ranging from 43% to 16%, and forecasters said it should be about 8 degrees cooler today, with temperatures continuing downward through the remainder of the week and a good chance of drizzle or showers for the next two or three days.