What Good’s an Ex-Hurricane? Just Wet and See

Lingering remnants of onetime Hurricane Hilary began drifting over Southern California on Tuesday, dropping warm, scattered rain showers that are expected to continue for the next couple of days.

“The showers and thundershowers will be brief, but sometimes intense,” said Guy Pearson, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times. “Most areas around Los Angeles probably will see some measurable rain today, but not a lot of it.”

In Orange County, temperatures were high Tuesday despite overcast skies, hovering in the 80s. The air was muggy and rain sprinkled occasionally, though not enough to accumulate and be officially recorded.

Pearson said Hilary, which grew to a full-fledged hurricane off the west coast of Central America on Sunday, started losing intensity as it moved steadily north over ever-cooler ocean waters. By Monday it was downgraded to a tropical storm, and by Tuesday it was only a tropical depression.

Centered Tuesday afternoon off the shore of central Baja California, the spinning low-pressure system was expected to pump moist tropical air into Southern California until Thursday before dissipating.

Pearson said showers should taper off by Thursday afternoon, with mostly clear skies through the weekend after a few morning clouds along the coast.

It will remain warm and humid through Thursday, with high temperatures in the Los Angeles Basin ranging from the mid-70s to the mid-90s during the day, followed by overnight lows in the mid- to upper 60s. Daytime highs will be about the same Friday and Saturday, but the weather should be more comfortable as the relative humidity and overnight temperatures drop.

In Orange County, the forecast for today calls for a 30% chance of rain, said Craig Denny, a meteorologist with WeatherData.

That outlook will likely hold through Thursday, when a separate off-shore weather system reaches the coast and pulls out the moisture that has been hanging around, he said.

“The humidity you’re feeling is leftover from Hilary, and it’s taking its own sweet time moving out of there,” he said.

Light, scattered showers are expected across Orange County, with temperatures remaining in the high 70s to low 80s.