Rain Tapering Off -- for Now
The rain that slicked area streets and hobbled Monday’s evening rush-hour commute was expected to taper off today after making a dent in this winter’s overall dryness.
Monday’s soaking caused no major flooding or mudslides on freeways, but sent drivers skidding, said Officer Patrick Kimball of the California Highway Patrol traffic management center. Between 6 a.m. and about 8 p.m., Kimball said, 397 traffic collisions had been reported in the L.A. area, compared with 209 last Monday.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. March 3, 2006 For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday March 03, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 40 words Type of Material: Correction
Rain totals -- An article in Tuesday’s California section incorrectly stated that before this week’s storm, 10.7 inches of rain had fallen on the Los Angeles area since July 1. The correct figure for downtown Los Angeles is 5.55 inches.
Weather forecasters were expecting between 1 and 2 inches of rain to have fallen in downtown Los Angeles and local valleys, and as much as 4 inches in the foothills, by the time skies clear early Wednesday.
Some brief and scattered showers, perhaps a thunderstorm or two, are likely today, said Jamie Smith, a National Weather Service meteorologist in the service’s Los Angeles-Oxnard office.
A flash-flood warning for areas recently scorched by brush fires along the Ventura and Los Angeles county line was lifted Monday night.
Wednesday’s clearing was likely to offer only a brief respite, Smith said. A second band of showers is expected to move into Southern California on Thursday. The chances of precipitation Thursday and Thursday night were 40% and 30%, respectively, she said.
Thursday’s rain is expected to be “not nearly as bad as this one,” Smith said, “just the last little wring of the towel” before clear weather returns for the weekend.
Before the clouds let loose late Monday morning, 10.7 inches of rain had fallen on the Los Angeles area since last July. That was 5.3 inches less than normal and 23 inches less than had fallen by this time last year.
Last year, a total of 33.9 inches of rain fell on downtown L.A., making it the second-wettest year on record.
Smith said that while more rain was needed this year, the “slow and steady” fall this week was a welcome change from last year’s downpours, which washed out roads and sent hillsides sliding.
“It’s not nearly as much as we’d like,” she said, “but I’d rather have 10 storms like this than just one 10 times as big.”
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Times staff writer Joel Rubin contributed to this report.
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