Valleywide : 2 Storms May Visit the Valley This Week

The jet stream, which for most of the winter has kept stormy weather away from Southern California, finally has shifted far enough south for rain to hit the San Fernando Valley, the National Weather Service said Sunday.

“It looks like we have a couple more storms which may pass through the area this week,” said Robert Baruffaldi, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

More rain from the edge of a storm hitting Central California is expected to visit the Valley on Tuesday. Another storm may hit on Friday, Baruffaldi said.

Even with last week’s rain and the upcoming storms, Southern California is having a drier winter than average. However, last year was much wetter than usual and there are no concerns about a drought, Baruffaldi said.

“It takes a number of years before a drought would start to happen,” he said. “Even if we have a dry year this year, we still have months of supplies from last year’s rains.”

Another factor is that while relatively little rain has hit the Los Angeles area, storms have been dumping more snow on the mountains and adding to reserves.

Since July, the Los Angeles Civic Center has had 2.52 inches of rain, compared with 14.71 inches for the same period last year. The average rainfall for this time of year is 7.51 inches.

Today, temperatures will reach 64 in Burbank and Van Nuys, 62 in Northridge and 66 in Woodland Hills.