First of 3 Storms Rolls Into Southland

It isn’t the real thing yet.

A good bit of rain fell Monday, but there wasn’t any flooding. The winds knocked down a tree, but it didn’t hit anything. A funnel cloud came ashore, but there wasn’t any damage.

El Nino isn’t actually here, but we’re getting closer.

The first of three El Nino-related storms due this week swept into the Southland on Monday, and although they’re not actually generated by the much-discussed meteorological phenomenon, they’re at least related to it.

Experts say the nasty weather is being funneled into Southern California by high-altitude jet stream winds deflected by El Nino.

Rain from the first storm began spattering Southland freeways and surface streets early enough to snarl the morning commute that launches the workweek.

Dozens of vehicles skidded and spun out. The California Highway Patrol said there were at least 158 fender-benders between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m.--about twice the normal number--but no reports of serious rain-related injuries. Jackknifed big rigs were still blocking several freeways at noon.

Winds picked up during the afternoon, gusting at up to 50 mph along the coast. The gusts toppled a tree beside a house in Long Beach. A small funnel cloud formed offshore and moved rapidly inland at Newport Beach, but caused no damage or injuries. The Coast Guard received several distress calls from boaters who were caught in the strong offshore winds, but no vessels were reported lost.

An urban flood advisory was issued for the Los Angeles Basin at 3 p.m., but rains were generally light to moderate and there were no reports of flooding or mudslides.

For some residents, the storm was a surprise--and an inconvenience.

Monday evening, as she left work on Bunker Hill, Sabrina Prudhomme of Altadena said the rain and cold “was just unexpected. Last week was like summer, now I’m putting on my mittens.”

The snow level, which hovered at about 7,000 feet during the day, was expected to drop to about 5,000 feet by this morning.

By nightfall Monday, 0.28 of an inch of rain had fallen at the Civic Center, raising the total for the season to 0.73 of an inch--about half the normal total for the date. Other storm totals by nightfall Monday included 1.12 inches in Pasadena, 1.06 in Northridge, 0.84 in Monrovia, 0.58 in Malibu, 0.48 in Chatsworth, 0.43 in San Bernardino, 0.39 in Santa Ana and 0.06 in Newport Beach.

Meteorologists say the strengthening El Nino condition, engendered by a shift in low-level tropical trade winds, has left a large pool of unusually warm surface water--overlain by a vast cloud of warm, moisture-laden air--in the central Pacific near the international date line.

At the same time, they say, El Nino has deflected the normal high-altitude jet stream winds in the Northern Hemisphere, pulling them much farther south than usual as they encircle the globe from west to east.

Tim Barnett, a geophysicist with the Scripps Oceanographic Institution in La Jolla, said that if the El Nino condition continues to develop as expected, southern branches of the high-speed jet stream will start picking up “flares” of moisture from the pool of air near the date line, starting next month.

When this “Pineapple Express” reaches Southern California, Barnett says, we could get classic El Nino downpours--the sort of deluges that devastated Southern California during the winter of 1982-83.

Barnett said a few days ago that this year’s El Nino looks much like that one, and so far, “it’s doing everything that we expect an El Nino to do.”

However, as expected, the tropical storms that ride the Pineapple Express aren’t ready to start rolling eastward quite yet, weather experts say.

John Sherwin, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times, said Monday that the jet stream winds are being deflected just enough to pull cool storms from the northern Pacific--typical in November even during non-El Nino years--farther south than normal, toward Southern California.

Rain from the first of the three storms expected this week probably will stop by this morning, Sherwin said. He said skies could even clear a bit before the arrival of the second storm, probably sometime tonight.

“The second storm doesn’t contain as much moisture as the first, but it’s more unstable,” Sherwin said. “That means there probably will be about the same amount of rain.”

The second storm will be a little windier and a little cooler, dropping a bit more snow in the mountains, forecasters said. Sherwin said precipitation from the second storm should taper off by Wednesday morning, with mostly clear skies Wednesday afternoon and Thursday. Skies are expected to start clouding up again Thursday night, with rain again Friday.

“That third storm will probably track a little farther north, so there probably won’t be as much rain from that one in Southern California,” Sherwin said.

The National Weather Service said temperatures in the Los Angeles area this week will be a little cooler than normal, with highs in the mid-60s and overnight lows in the 50s.

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Times staff writers Lorenza Munoz and David Reyes in Orange County and Peter Y. Hong and Nieson Himmel in Los Angeles contributed to this story.

* RAINY DAY MEMORIES: A glistening world creates a chance for reflection. B1