Rain, Wind Will ‘Dent’ Dry Spell, Not End It

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.

In San Diego County, rainfall amounts today are expected to average half an inch to 1 inch along the coast, near 1 inch inland, and 1 to 2 inches in the mountains, said forecaster Richard Stitt of the National Weather Service in San Diego.

An urban flood statement would most likely be in effect by this morning, he said, adding that morning commuters should use extra caution.

“It’s going to be wet. There were people sliding all over the place up in L.A., and we’re expecting the same thing down here,” he said.

Mountain Wind Advisory

A wind advisory will remain in effect through this evening for the mountains of San Diego County. Winds are expected to reach 25 to 35 m.p.h., with gusts of up to 45 m.p.h. likely.

The highest peaks in the county should receive snow by this afternoon, with the snow level slowly creeping down to 5,000 feet by tonight. About 3 inches of snow is expected in local mountains.

Rain and snow had begun to fall by Tuesday afternoon elsewhere in the state.

“We could get a half-inch of rain in the Los Angeles 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.

“They are also getting quite a bit of rain up north, and more is expected up there,” she said. “This should provide significant relief from the dry spell. . . . The situation is improving.”

Problems Will Remain

However, managers of Northern California watersheds cautioned that, although the precipitation is welcome, it doesn’t mean 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 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 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, and the National Weather Service said as much as 2 feet more was expected by noon today.

Mountain Storm Warnings

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

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

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 weather service.

Meteorologists said the showers that dampened Los Angeles 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.

No Measurable Amount

Those morning showers weren’t heavy enough to be measured in weather service rain gauges, but they were enough to contribute to dozens of traffic accidents, several of them involving school buses.

Seven pupils headed for the A. E. Wright Middle School in Calabasas received minor injuries when their bus was unable to stop in time on wet pavement and skidded into a car leaving a driveway, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Police said a boy was slightly injured when he fell from his seat as his bus braked sharply to avoid a skidding car in Los Angeles’ Koreatown.

Forty-six children escaped injury when their bus was involved in what the CHP described as a “fender-bender” on wet pavement in the Sherman Oaks area.

Rush-Hour Rain

Streets in Southern California dried by mid-day Tuesday, but the rain began in earnest as the storm moved inland during the evening rush hour.

Roth said the rain 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 parts of the state.

She said the storm that invaded California on Tuesday was right on course for this time of year, trailing down the West Coast before taking a slow left turn off California and heading inland. It followed the same course as a storm last Thursday that deposited more than a quarter of an inch of rain at the Los Angeles Civic Center, with 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, although at the moment there are no more big storms headed this way.

Times staff writer Kathie Bozanich contributed to this story.