Waterlogged Southland Is Missing Its Sunshine

Another dreary day in paradise.

If it rains today, as forecasters expect, it will be the seventh day in a row that the sunny Southland has been what it’s not supposed to be. Gray, chilly and wet.

Mountains have been smothered by clouds and beaches bikini-free.

In the last two months the area has been pelted with 14 inches of rain, just half an inch short of the norm for the entire season, which runs from July 1 through June 30.

In Orange County, Brea recorded the heaviest precipitation Wednesday, with 0.55. Half an inch fell in Huntington Beach, Placentia and Trabuco Canyon.

It has also been raining and snowing in Northern California, adding to a snowpack that has been at worrisomely low levels.

Wednesday measurements in the American River watershed of the Sierra Nevada put the snowpack at 77% of normal for that location. Across the range, state water resources spokesman Jeff Cohen said the figure was 75% of normal.

Though the water content of the snow--critical to runoff that feeds Southern California’s water supplies and hydroelectric plants--increased significantly in February, water resources staff doubt that it will reach normal levels this spring.

“It’s lagging because the early dryness of the season was very severe and we’re just kind of running out of winter,” Cohen said. “It sure doesn’t look as bad as it did Feb. 1, but there is still a large potential for some reductions in water delivery.”

Times staff writer Hang Nguyen contributed to this report.