Rain Lighter Than Expected but May Continue to Thursday

A weekend of storms brought much-needed rain to Southern California but none of the weather-related disasters, from mudslides to major car accidents, for which authorities had been bracing.

Showers are expected to continue through at least Thursday. Commuters this morning can expect light showers.

But forecasters say that a week of wet weather will not go very far toward bringing up the season’s rain total, which, at a mere 3.09 inches for downtown Los Angeles since July, is 6 inches below normal. “You’re not going to catch up,” said Wes Etheredge of WeatherData Inc., which provides weather information for The Times.

Forecasters had predicted that as much as 4 inches of rain could fall on the Southland over the weekend, accompanied by thunder and lightning. But by Sunday afternoon, with hardly a bang or a flash, only a little more than an inch of rain had fallen on downtown Los Angeles. The total reached 1.89 inches in Pasadena and 1.8 inches in Santa Monica.

On the region’s highways, the rain contributed to a flurry of accidents but no fatalities, said CHP Officer Frank Sansome. It was slow going for many Sunday drivers, though.

In Arcadia, where authorities Friday scrambled to set up concrete barricades and more than 6,000 sandbags to protect homes in the path of a potential mudslide, most of the mud stayed in place, said Stephen Fallovillita of the Arcadia Police Department.

On Southland beaches, lifeguards warned people to stay out of the water near storm drains because of the health risks posed by bacteria-laden storm runoff, but runoff was less than predicted, authorities said.

In the mountains, which got up to 8 inches of snow in some places, authorities said there had been no major car accidents or search and rescue operations.