Dust Off the Umbrellas : Half-Inch of Rain Expected for L.A. From Season’s 1st Substantial Storm

The first substantial storm of the season began moving into Southern California on Friday night, bringing a good chance of rain over the weekend.

Forecasters said about half an inch should fall in the Los Angeles area, with perhaps twice that much in the foothills and mountains, before the storm moves to the east sometime Sunday afternoon.

It is a warm storm system, born over the mid-Pacific near Hawaii, so there should not be the mountain snowfalls associated with the chilly systems that often arrive later in the fall from the Gulf of Alaska, officials said.

James McCutcheon, a meteorologist with WeatherData, Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times, said Friday that the large stream of subtropical moisture was being pulled into the Southland by winds circulating counterclockwise around another, smaller storm system to the north.

Rain should start falling before dawn today, McCutcheon said, with widespread showers continuing in the Los Angeles Basin through the day.

He said the rain should begin tapering off by tonight, with a few lingering showers Sunday morning.

Temperatures are expected to remain generally comfortable through the weekend.

Forecasters said it will be mostly sunny on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, except for some fog and low clouds along the coast in the late night and early morning hours. Temperatures are expected to increase gradually during the early part of next week.

The high temperature at the Los Angeles Civic Center on Friday was 76 degrees, following an overnight low of 64. The rainfall total for the weather year, which began July 1, stood at .16 of an inch.