With Exit of Storm, We May Soon Be in the Clear

Don’t like the weather? Wait a day.

As winter winds downs and the novelty of rain wears thin, perhaps there is comfort in knowing that tomorrow will be brighter and warmer. Or at least that’s what the forecasters say as they predict that the weak series of storms that loafed ashore Sunday will start to dissipate Wednesday.

On Monday--as marathoners iced muscles they never knew they had--a warmish storm dropped less than an inch of rain on the San Fernando Valley and draped the mountains in a gray drizzle just strong enough to keep the windshield wipers on low.

National Weather Service meteorologist Vladimir Ryshko said the subtropical storm is warmer than the one last week that dropped snow at elevations as low as 2,000 feet. Nighttime lows have hovered around 50 with daytime highs around 60, Ryshko said.

The rain is expected to let up Wednesday, but Ryshko said skies will clear slowly throughout the rest of the week. As they do, temperatures will climb back into normal ranges for March--lows around 50 and highs in the upper 60s.

By Monday afternoon, the seasonal rain total for Southern California crept up to almost 9.6 inches--about 2 inches lower than normal, Ryshko said. But if the current pace of storms continues, he added, the season may make up for a dry fall and early winter.

“We certainly have done a lot of catching up in the past two months,” he said.

From the San Gabriel Mountains north, Ryshko predicted between 4 and 6 inches of snow at elevations above 5,000 feet. “It’s not too bad a situation for people used to driving in it,” he said.

On Valley roads, the rain had little effect on traffic, according to Los Angeles police and California Highway Patrol officers. But CHP Sgt. Ernie Garcia stopped short of crediting Southland drivers with learning how to handle rainy highways.

“I just don’t think it rained that hard,” said Garcia, whose Monday commute between Baldwin Park and Glendale was 10 minutes quicker than usual. “On my commute, it was barely sprinkling.”

But the sprinkle was enough to infuriate the thousands who flocked to carwashes Saturday, a bright and sunny day even by Southern California standards. After showers begrimed most autos last week, “Saturday was a busy day,” said Gene Burke, owner of Sherman Oaks Car Wash.

On Monday, though, the carwash was closed. Business slacked off considerably Sunday, when the clouds moved in and forecasters warned of rain. In the carwash business, Burke said, a rainy forecast is like a punch to the gut.

“If we could do it, we would probably shoot all the weather reporters,” he said. “Even if they say there is a slight chance of rain, it kills the business just as if they said there is going to be a typhoon tomorrow.”