Light Rain, Some Snow Expected From Weak Storm

A relatively weak storm system is expected to move quickly through the Southland this morning, dropping about a quarter of an inch of rain on the Civic Center and about twice that much on some foothill communities.

The rain, which should start falling on Los Angeles shortly after midnight, will probably end around noon, with skies starting to clear by midafternoon, forecasters said.

“It’ll be pretty cool, which means some snow could fall as low as 4,000 feet, but amounts will generally be light, with only about an inch to three inches at resort levels,” said Jeff House, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., a firm that provides forecasts for The Times.

“It’ll be pretty nice--clear and mild--on Wednesday and Thursday, but Friday’s a question mark,” he said. “It still looks as though Friday will be dry in Los Angeles, but there’ll be another storm moving into Northern California by then, and some of the rain must just get down to Southern California.”

The National Weather Service said a series of storms in the mid-Pacific will be churning up some heavy surf, with breakers up to 11 feet high hammering some west-facing beaches in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties today. The surf, arriving atop high astronomical tides, could cause some flooding in low-lying areas, the Weather Service said. Temperatures at the Civic Center should be slightly below normal today, with a high of about 65 after an overnight low in the lower 50s. Thermometer readings are expected to rise a few degrees Wednesday and Thursday, dipping slightly again Friday.

The high temperature at the Civic Center on Monday was 69 degrees, one degree below normal for the date. Total rainfall for the season, which runs from July 1 through June 30, was 1.33 inches, less than half the normal total for the date of 2.89 inches.