Rain will linger another day as downtown L.A. sets record
A cold storm that’s been lingering over Southern California for most of the week will continue to drop rain and mountain snow on the area for another day, forecasters say.
Showers are expected to fall over Los Angeles and portions of Ventura counties for most of Friday, lasting until the evening at the latest, according to the National Weather Service. Heavier rain is forecast for Orange and San Diego counties, where a flash flood watch is in effect until 8 p.m.
A winter storm warning is in effect for the eastern San Gabriel Mountains, where several inches of snow are expected to fall into the evening.
A slow-moving storm has unleashed steady precipitation across Southern California over the past two days, drenching urban areas with rain and pounding the mountains with powder.
The storm first moved in over Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties early Monday morning.
Such a long period of rain this time of year “is rare but not unheard of,” said Ryan Kittell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
“We’ll probably get this wet of a storm in April maybe once every 10 years or so,” he said.
Friday marked the sixth day in a row that rain fell on downtown Los Angeles, breaking a record for the number of consecutive days of rain in April that was set in 1983, when downtown L.A. recorded five consecutive days of precipitation.
Other areas also set rainfall total records Thursday, with .82 inches falling at Long Beach Airport, breaking a record of .78 inches set in 1958, and 1.08 inches recorded in Sandberg, surpassing the previous record of .42 inches set in 1958.
U.S. Drought Monitor data released Thursday show that less of California is abnormally dry, and more of the state is drought-free, particularly in Southern California.
Things are expected to clear up for the weekend, though some drizzle or light rain is possible Sunday because of a deep marine layer, the Weather Service said.
A warming trend is forecast for next week, with temperatures expected to reach well into the 70s by as early as Tuesday.
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