It’s Not Just Your Usual June Gloom

Rain in June?

A powerful late spring storm brought wintry weather back to Southern California on Thursday in the form of unseasonably cool temperatures and sporadic rain throughout the Los Angeles Basin. “This is not just June gloom,” said Steve Manekis, a meteorologist for WeatherData. “It’s Mother Nature showing once again how unpredictable she can be.”

Much like its midwinter cousins, the system developed in the Pacific Northwest and rode the jet stream down the West Coast, bringing nearly a foot of snow to the High Sierra, hail in Fresno and a cool, curious rain to the Los Angeles area.

Just after 3 p.m., showers were reported at Los Angeles International Airport and at Santa Monica, where the temperatures were in the low 60s--a far cry from the fair skies and 90-degree temperatures earlier in the week.

By 5:30 p.m., Downtown Los Angeles had received 0.13 inches of rain and 0.21 inches had fallen at LAX.

But things are looking up. Today’s forecast calls for partly cloudy skies and west winds 10 to 20 m.p.h., but no rain, forecasters said. Temperatures should range from the upper 60s along the coast to the mid-70s inland.

The weekend should bring even more sunshine and slightly warmer temperatures.

“Still, this isn’t the kind of weather you’d expect as we near the Fourth of July,” Manekis said.

Thursday’s high in Downtown Los Angeles was 69. The normal high for the date is 78.