Rain Expected to Continue Today and Tonight With Flooding Possible

The second substantial storm system in less than a week washed into California on Tuesday, bringing tornadoes, gale-force winds and what forecasters said is the promise of enough additional rain and snow to “put a significant dent” in the long spring dry spell.

“We could get a half inch of rain in the Orange County area, and maybe an inch or more closer to the mountains, with some localized flooding from brief, heavy thundershowers,” said Janice Roth, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times.

Roth said the rain should continue in the Southland today and tonight, with considerable cloudiness and a few showers Thursday before the storm system moves out to the east.

She said there was a possibility of local flooding as a result of the showers and thundershowers.

“Some of the showers may produce small amounts of hail and gusty winds,” Roth said, “with southeast-to-east winds of 15-30 m.p.h., switching over to west in afternoon.

“They’re also getting quite a bit of rain (in Northern California), and more is expected up there,” she said. “This should provide significant relief from the dry spell. . . . The situation is improving.”

Managers of Northern California watersheds cautioned, however, that while the precipitation is welcome, it doesn’t mean that the state’s water problems are over.

“It would take a tremendous amount of rain to get us to a normal situation,” said Bill Helms, a spokesman for the state’s Flood Operations Center in Sacramento.

At least as important as the rain was the snow that was falling in the Sierra Nevada on Tuesday night. The Sierra snowpack--considerably below normal this year--is the principal source of water for the state, providing much of the runoff funneled off to Southern California through the California Aqueduct.

By nightfall Tuesday, more than 6 inches of snow had fallen at some reporting stations in the Sierra. The National Weather Service said as much as 2 feet more was expected by noon today.

Winter storm warnings were issued throughout the Sierra, with gales compounding the hazards posed by the heavy snowfall.

At least two small tornadoes damaged the roofs of several homes and battered some farm outbuildings in the Folsom area about 20 miles east of Sacramento on Tuesday afternoon, but there were no reports of injury.

Another funnel cloud was reported in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta town of Hood, about 10 miles south of Sacramento, and still another was spotted in Lockeford, another 20 miles to the southeast, according to the National Weather Service.

Meteorologists said the showers that dampened some Orange County streets early Tuesday were the result of a routine onshore flow of marine air, and not from the storm, which did not begin moving into the Southland until nightfall.

Those morning showers weren’t heavy enough to be measured in National Weather Service rain gauges in some parts of Orange County, including Santa Ana.

Streets in Southern California dried by midday Tuesday, but the rain resumed in earnest as the approaching storm began to move inland during evening commute hours.

While temperatures edged up toward comfortable levels Tuesday--the high in Santa Ana was 70, following an overnight low of 56--it is expected to cool off today and Thursday, with the thermometer pushing no higher than the low 60s.

The cool temperatures will mean some snow for Southern California mountains, with accumulations of 3 to 5 inches expected at resort areas above 5,000 feet.

Roth said the rainy weather is actually a return to normal for this time of year, with the high-altitude jet stream--which had been swinging across the northern edge of California, blocking the southerly flow of storms from the Pacific--returning to its more customary course across the central and southern portions of the state.

She said the storm that invaded California on Tuesday was right on course for this time of year, trailing down along the West Coast before taking a slow left turn off California and heading inland. It followed the same course as a storm Thursday that dropped small amounts of rain on San Clemente, Laguna Beach, San Juan Capistrano and Newport Beach, and as much as 2 inches in some foothill communities.

Roth said that with the jet stream expected to remain pretty much in place for the time being, there could be more rain on the way, but there are no more big storms headed this way at the moment.

She said a weather system currently well to the north could bring cloudiness--and the chance of some sprinkles--by the weekend.

Times Staff Writer Mark I. Pinsky contributed to this article.