Rains Head East, but More Expected

A powerful storm lumbered off to the east on Tuesday after dropping more than three inches of rain on some parts of the Los Angeles Basin, and forecasters said more wet weather is on the way.

Although skies should be partly cloudy this morning, they should become overcast by this afternoon, with a good chance of rain late tonight and throughout much of Thursday, said Mark Bogner, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc.

“The rain amounts will be lighter this time, although there might be as much as an inch in some areas,” Bogner said.

The earlier storm dropped 2.81 inches of rain at the Los Angeles Civic Center on Monday and Tuesday, raising the season’s total there to 16.32 inches, almost five inches above the normal total for the date.

Other storm totals included 3.51 inches at Mt. Wilson, 3.42 inches in Woodland Hills, 3 inches in Pasadena, 1.96 inches in Santa Monica, 1.85 inches in Culver City, 1.78 inches in San Gabriel and 0.93 inch in Long Beach.

The 1.95 inches that fell Monday at San Diego’s Lindbergh Field was the highest total recorded there on a March 2.

The heaviest rain--along with hail, lightning and thunder--was reported in foothill communities, but there was relatively little of the flooding that plagued Southern California during February’s heavy downpours.

Gates that had been closed Monday to keep motorists out of the flood-prone Sepulveda Basin--where more than 40 motorists were stranded last month--were reopened at dawn Tuesday as the main force of the storm pushed eastward.

A funnel cloud was reported in the Chino area Tuesday afternoon, but it never touched the ground and there were no reports of damage.

No deaths were attributed directly to the rain that fell in Los Angeles on Monday and Tuesday, but police said Ulysses Jarrett, 42, of Compton was killed and a man riding with him was injured when Jarrett’s car skidded on wet pavement early Tuesday and crashed into a fence in Compton.