Sprinkles Expected to Last

Keep your raincoats and umbrellas handy, because spring-like showers are expected through the middle of the week.

“There’s a possibility of rain through Thursday,” said meteorologist Dan Bowman of WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times.

Cloudy skies produced sprinkles over wide areas of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Saturday as the high temperature at the Civic Center hit 71 degrees after an overnight low of 58, about normal for this time of year. Relative humidity ranged from 87% to 45%.

Don’t abandon that umbrella when you see a little sunshine this week because more clouds and rain are almost certain to follow, the forecaster warned.

The mild showers, he said, are the result of a low-pressure system that has been sitting about 700 miles off the Southern California coast for the last several days.

Southerly winds have been pulling moisture into the system, which is just now beginning to produce rain, he said.

Rainfall amounts were slight, with .07 of an inch reported at the Civic Center by 4 p.m. The rainfall brought the season’s total to 7.80 inches, about three inches less than normal for this date, the National Weather Service said.

Elsewhere, .15 of an inch fell at Monrovia, .30 at Santa Ana, .09 at Santa Barbara. .01 at San Diego and .15 at Woodland Hills.