Storm Sneaks In, but Rain Totals Still Low

Rain hit the San Fernando Valley this week because a high-pressure system that has kept wintry weather at bay moved out and allowed a storm system to descend over the area.

“It’s like an inside slider,” said Bill Hoffer, a spokesman for the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

For most of the winter, storms have been hitting the Pacific Northwest rather than Los Angeles. But when the high-pressure system backed away from land, a storm that originated in the Gulf of Alaska was able to move south, skirting the Los Angeles coast and breaking a dry spell.

Even if the current storm drops up to the inch of rain predicted, Southern California is still much drier than usual. As of Sunday, the area had received only 1.84 inches of rain, down from 11.82 inches by this time last year. The average amount of rainfall for Los Angeles by this time of year--for a season that starts July 1--is 6.8 inches.

There is a slight chance that rain will return Wednesday, although it probably will hit only Central California, Hoffer said. Even so, the storms should bring more snow to the mountains, helping ski conditions and refilling the state’s reservoirs in the spring.

Temperatures in the Valley this week will range from lows in the 30s and 40s to highs in the mid-60s. “It’s going to be on the cool side,” Hoffer said.