More Drizzle Forecast Through the Weekend

There are 17 more days of winter left, and the season isn’t going out without a fight. Angelenos were taunted again Thursday with what weather forecasters called “a subtropic drizzle.”

An annoyingly halfhearted dribble, some locals preferred to call it.

Whatever it is called, better get used to it. Meteorologist James McCutcheon of WeatherData Inc. said the droplets are going to keep coming for the next few days, although they probably won’t amount to more than a quarter inch of honest rain.

A weak disturbance over the northern and central parts of the state is to blame, he said. Moisture that usually sits over the Pacific Ocean between Mexico and Hawaii is instead rotating through Southern California. The result will be unsettled weather through the weekend, with showers concentrated mainly in the coastal areas.

Until Tuesday, anyway, when McCutcheon says the sky will probably open and allow heavy rain to pour.

Record rainfall was already recorded in January, although the winter season as a whole is not expected to set a rainfall record, “unless, of course, you get 10 more inches in March, which, I don’t know, could happen in L.A.,” Leslie Stavro of WeatherData joked. The rainiest winter season, measured from about Dec. 20 to March 20, was recorded in 1977-78, when 23.77 inches fell. So far this year, Los Angeles International Airport has recorded 13.9 inches, putting this winter in seventh place so far.

Angelenos, accustomed to desert dryness, seem finally to have adjusted to the moisture.

Conventional wisdom says that people don’t buy flowers or get their car washed when it is gray outside. Yet Marty Lavitt, owner of the Wild Flower in Northridge, said people seem to be coping by doing the exact opposite.

“We have been finding, on these icky days, we get a lot of customers coming in for $5 bouquets just to cheer themselves up, brighten up their homes,” he said.

And Cruisers, the trendy Northridge carwash/diner, has reportedly had a profitable winter. Despite closing on rain days, the carwash still cleans 400 to 500 cars each day it is open.

“The only thing that really hurt,” said owner David Israel, “was being rained out on Christmas Eve.”

The California Highway Patrol sees a bright spot in the rainfall. Although rains initially lift oil residue from the roadways, creating a dangerously slippery film, continued precipitation washes the streets clean of these hazards.

“After it has been raining for a while, driving in the rain becomes less hazardous,” said CHP spokesman Tito Gomez. “Not only are highway surfaces cleaner, but drivers get accustomed to navigating through the rain. They get used to the difficulty of braking. They can start getting used to the slower speeds and wider spaces between vehicles that seem to be so difficult for L.A. drivers.”