Christmas Forecast: Clear, Sunny Skies

Winter usually brings a good amount of rain to Southern California and this year is looking to be no exception. Showers came in droves during the first official weekend of the season.

But weather forecasters are predicting that for the next several days, skies will be clear.

Maybe.

“This time of year, you don’t want to stick your neck out too far,” said Dennis Tussey, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

A low-pressure system from the Gulf of Alaska that brought the rains was expected to have moved out of the area by today.

Meanwhile, a mass of high-pressure air, bringing clearer weather, was expected to move in, Tussey said.

“Later in the week, the whole West Coast will be under the influence of the high pressure,” he said, “if the computer models are correct.”

The last three rainstorms to hit Southern California were pushed along by a flow of moisture from the subtropics, the so-called Pineapple Express, Tussey said.

The storms helped push the rain total for the season well above the norm. As of yesterday, the total was 6.25 inches, almost 2 inches above normal. Last year at this point, the total was only .92 inches.

Valley residents should now have a chance to get dry.

“Our forecast is it’s going to be fair weather for at least the next four or five days,” Tussey said.

Temperatures today will range from 67 down to 44 in Woodland Hills and from 66 to 43 in Burbank.

Looking ahead to Christmas Day, the daytime highs in the Valley will hover around 70, with overnight lows in the mid- to upper 40s. There could be light to moderate Santa Ana winds.