Another storm headed for Southern California

A new storm was forecast to dump rain on Southern California today and Wednesday, but the system was not expected to pose a significant threat to hillside areas saturated by last week’s torrential downpours, officials said.

The rainfall will be light with some moderate to heavy bursts at times, according to the National Weather Service. The storm is expected to drop half an inch to as much as 1 1/2 inches of rain across the region, with possibly higher amounts in mountain regions.

In Los Angeles County, crews will patrol foothill areas such as La Cañada Flintridge and Acton to watch for mud flows and monitor rain-swollen debris basins, officials said.

“We still don’t think it will pose a significant threat,” said Kerjon Lee, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works.

The amount of rainfall in the Los Angeles area will depend on whether the storm first hits the California coast north or south of Point Conception in Santa Barbara County, the weather service said Monday evening.

“Where this thing actually winds up hitting will determine how much rain we get,” said Bill Hoffer, a spokesman at the National Weather Service office in Oxnard.

In the mountain areas, the storm could drop from 6 to 12 inches of snow, the weather service said. Snow levels will be between 5,500 and 6,000 feet.

The precipitation will taper off by Wednesday morning and give way to dry weather through at least Thursday and possibly into the weekend, the weather service said.

“It’s a wait-and-see thing,” Hoffer said.

robert.lopez@latimes.com