Spent Hurricane Leaves Drizzle in Its Wake

Hurricane Ramon began sputtering out 800 miles southwest of Los Angeles on Monday, leaving Southern California with the prospect of little worse than cloudy weather after a few possible drizzles or light showers this morning.

“I doubt that you’ll see complete clearing,” said meteorologist Patricia Cooper of WeatherData, which provides forecasts for The Times. “There probably will be some showers in the morning and mostly cloudy in the afternoon hours.”

But by Wednesday, Cooper said, Southern California should be relatively sunny, staying “rain-free and warming up some at least through Friday.”

She said another storm front was showing up in the northeastern Pacific and could move toward the California coastline later in the week.

“But I don’t see that causing you any problems right now,” she added.

Despite respectable downpours in San Diego County and other Southland areas Sunday and Monday, Los Angeles failed to record any rain from Ramon, now classified as a tropical depression. The Civic Center’s season total remained .10 of an inch, compared to a normal season-to-date reading of .39. A year ago, the season total had already reached 2.68 inches.

Although they did little more than dampen sidewalks in the Civic Center, light showers marched across the San Diego County coast Monday and then spread north and east into portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

A man was killed when he apparently lost control of his car on rain-slick 53rd Street between Main Street and Broadway, crashing into a pickup truck parked at the curb, Los Angeles police said.

The victim of the accident late Monday night was not identified because authorities had not been able to contact his relatives in Mexico.

His passenger, identified as Rufus Eaton, 42, of Los Angeles, was hospitalized for observation.

San Diego recorded something of a record Sunday, when .51 inch of rain was the most ever recorded at Lindbergh Field on Oct. 11.

Monday’s high temperature at the Los Angeles Civic Center was 71 degrees under leaden skies. The overnight low was 66.

Relative humidity ranged from 79% to 93%.

Highs today should be in the mid-70s, the National Weather Service said.