Rainstorm Reluctant to Leave the Area

The sluggish subtropical storm that hovered over Southern California for two full days slowly crept eastward late Friday after depositing as much as two inches of rain on some foothill and mountain areas.

The storm was big enough to snarl commuter traffic for the second straight day. But meteorologists said the amount of precipitation was still too small to put an appreciable dent in the state’s four-year drought.

With no more rain expected in the next few days, forecasters said that skies should be partly cloudy over the weekend with moderate temperatures throughout the Los Angeles Basin.

The storm had dumped .41 of an inch of rain on the Los Angeles Civic Center by nightfall Friday. Forecasters said that total rainfall from the massive weather system could reach an inch and a half in some hillside areas of the city.

Some reporting stations in the foothills above Santa Barbara and in mountain areas above the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys reported rain totals of up to two inches by Friday evening.

Rain began falling here late Wednesday. Never intense, the precipitation continued all day Thursday and Friday. Most of it soaked into parched ground, with relatively little runoff.

Despite the duration of the storm and the lack of wasted runoff, experts said that the continuing rain was still not enough to slake the thirst of watershed drained by the prolonged four-year drought.

“It’s helping some, but there’s still a long way to go before the drought is over,” said Steve Burback, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times. “We’ll need three or four more of these storms. The trouble is that this one is too cold to build the snowpack in the Sierra, and that’s what’s really needed.”

The precipitation total for the season at nightfall Friday was still well below the 4.81-inch total normal for the date.

The rain here, which reduced rush-hour freeway traffic to an inert tangle on Thursday, had much the same effect again on Friday.

“Wet, slippery pavement really throws people for a loop,” said Officer Lydia Martinez, a spokeswoman for the California Highway Patrol. “They drive too fast. They don’t leave room enough to stop.”

Martinez said that in addition to dozens of lesser accidents on surface streets, four SigAlert warnings were issued for major accidents that blocked freeway traffic during the morning. While the major accidents made Friday morning commuting difficult on several freeways, there were no serious injuries reported.

The storm was originally forecast to have left Southern California by Friday afternoon. But it moved through the area slower than expected.

“When it started out, east of Hawaii, there was nothing behind it to give it any real push,” said Burback. “The system--loaded with abundant moisture--sort of floated along, moving slowly eastward across the Pacific.”

Burback said skies should start clearing by this morning, with partly cloudy skies expected for the remainder of the day and on Sunday. Temperatures in the Los Angeles area should remain on the moderate side, with highs in the low 60s after overnight lows in the upper 40s and lower 50s. Friday’s high was 67; the low, 52.