COUNTYWIDE : Heavy Rain Expected in Overdue Storm

A slow-moving storm was expected to bring heavy showers through today that could linger through Tuesday morning, dropping from three quarters of an inch to 1 1/2 inches of rain in Ventura County.

The storm, which meteorologists had predicted would arrive in the county on Saturday, left much-needed rain and snow in Northern California before it drifted south over Santa Barbara and Ventura counties late Sunday.

Skies should be clear and cold by Wednesday, with temperatures dropping below freezing in some inland areas late in the week, said National Weather Service Meteorologist Terry Schaeffer.

Schaeffer said the latest storm may mark the end of a period that brought unusually heavy rain to the area beginning on Feb. 26. “This should be the last of them for a while,” Schaeffer said. “I can’t see anything else out there for at least a week that will come this far south.”

April could bring some rainfall as well. In normal years, Schaeffer said, Ventura County receives an inch of rainfall in April.

“But this has not been a normal year,” he said. “If anyone had told me back in February that we were going to get 15 inches of rain in Santa Paula in three weeks, I would never have believed them.”