COUNTYWIDE : Forecasters Expect Another Day of Rain

Forecasters say Orange County should be in for another day of rain today, much to the relief of water officials and farmers who hope that this could signal the end of a four-year pattern of relatively dry winters.

“We’d love to see rain for 20 days and 20 nights,” said Barbara Buck, a spokeswoman for the Irvine-based Western Growers Assn. “The farmers were ready to do rain dances. It was as though they were farming salt fields.”

Still, the rain created havoc for some on Orange County roads and freeways.

The California Highway Patrol reported about 50 minor accidents during a three-hour period Tuesday evening. “They were all over the freeways,” a CHP spokesman said. “People overestimate their cabability of braking in this weather.”

The foul weather forced the National Guard armories in Fullerton and Santa Ana to open Tuesday night and shelter the homeless. Wayne Warner, a program manager for the Orange County Social Services Agency, said that about 60 people checked into the armory in Fullerton.

State guidelines require that the armories open when the temperature drops to 50 degrees and it is raining, Warner said. When it isn’t raining, he said, the temperature must drop to 40 degrees before armories will open.

The Tuesday rain measured from 0.18 of an inch in Anaheim to a trace in Newport Beach to none at all in El Toro.

The latest rain is the result of a storm system from the Gulf of Alaska that has brought wet weather and cooler temperatures. Showers are predicted to continue through today, according to Rick Dittmann, a meteorologist for WeatherData, a Wichita, Kan.-based company that provides forecasts for The Times.

Orange County can expect one-third to one inch of rain, he said, and possibly a thunderstorm.

Highs today will be in the mid-50s to mid-60s. Clouds will clear tonight, with a slight chance of a few lingering showers. Lows will be in the mid-30s to mid-40s.

Thursday’s forecast calls for clear skies and highs in the 60s.

Sizable amounts of rain have been reported since the start of the storms last weekend. According to the Orange County Flood Control District, Huntington Beach has had half an inch of rain; Yorba Linda two inches; Santiago Peak, 4.1 inches; Mission Viejo, 1.3 inches and El Toro, 0.8 of an inch.

Although the storms have created several small mudslides in hilly, eastern areas of the county, the ground has not been oversaturated, said Bill Reider, the county’s public works operations manager at the Flood Control District.

But the county isn’t out of the drought yet. After today’s showers, forecasters predict a high-pressure system to again settle in, bringing dry weather to the county for three to five days, Dittmann said.

The most recent rains have only been a drop in the bucket compared to the shortfall caused by the drought. Jim Van Haun, a spokesman for the county’s water district, said that since Oct. 1, the district’s station in Anaheim has recorded about three inches of rain. Normal is about 6 to 6.5 inches.

“We were very worried when we saw bone-dry December,” Haun said. “We’re getting there. This helps, but we have a long way to catch up.”

Haun said that it would take about three or more spurts of rain like this one to match the normal rainfall.

Still, for some farmers, the heavy rains have been a mixed blessing. The heavy water droplets have created minor damage to some of the county’s $43-million strawberry industry, Buck said.