Rainy Skies to Clear Up for Holiday Motorists

Motorists who didn’t try to leave early Friday on their holiday trips should be rewarded with better driving conditions this weekend, as no rain is forecast and skies are expected to clear.

High temperatures in the mid-60s are expected today, and the morning clouds should be gone by evening, said Ray Tanabe of the National Weather Service.

Downtown Los Angeles received .66 inch of rain Friday, bringing the rain season total to 2.55 inches, below the average of 4.21 inches. San Gabriel received the most rain in Los Angeles County with .95 inch.

The rain was blamed for a Friday morning accident that seriously injured a Los Angeles Police Department officer. He was investigating an accident at 8:10 a.m. when a car lost control on rain-slick Sepulveda Boulevard near Mulholland Drive and struck him, authorities said.

The officer, whose name was not released, was taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center, where he was in serious but stable condition, said Officer Grace Brady, an LAPD spokeswoman.

The unidentified driver was also taken to the hospital but was not seriously injured, police said.

The crash prompted authorities to close all lanes on Sepulveda for several hours.

Thursday night, a driver apparently speeding in the rain lost control near Los Angeles International Airport while trying to pass another car and struck a light standard, police said. A passenger was killed.

A cold and steady rain in Orange County set off a series of traffic accidents, swamped city streets and forced county environmental officers to warn surfers and swimmers to stay out of the ocean for at least 72 hours. Runoff from rainstorms carries pollutants to the ocean.

The weekend should bring partly cloudy skies and cool temperatures, forecasters said. Highs will reach the low to mid-60s, with lows in the high 30s to low 40s through Monday.