A Friday storm brought a healthy dose of rain to Los Angeles County on Friday, but mostly fizzled for Orange County and the Inland Empire, according to National Weather Service officials.
Still, hope remains for a stronger and even wetter storm starting as early as Sunday night. Rainy conditions will persist Monday and linger at least into Tuesday and possibly Wednesday.
That storm, forecasters say, will not just impact Los Angeles County, but Orange County and the Inland Empire as well. It will bring anywhere from a half an inch to an inch of rain for most areas over the several day period, officials say.
“The system has just changed so much,” said meteorologist Tom Fisher, who works in the National Weather Service’s Oxnard office. He said forecasters initially thought the storm would be weak, bringing either no rain or trace amounts.
Weather forecast models have since changed, he said, and much of Southern California, from Ventura County to San Diego County, will see 0.5 of an inch to 1 inch of rain.
Both the Los Angeles County and San Bernardino County mountains could see anywhere from 1 to 2 inches of rain, though snow will be unlikely except for elevations above 8,000 feet.
Fisher said forecasters will need to monitor the situation because the system has changed so rapidly in just a couple days. He said that while as much as an inch is the estimate as of midday Friday, it could be even more as the storm moves in.
“We’ll have to watch this until 24 hours from when it comes in,” he said.
Though the future storm promised more of a drenching for all of Southern California, the rain wasn’t as evenly distributed Friday.
National Weather Service meteorologist Noel Isla, who works in the NWS’ San Diego office, said that since Orange County and the Inland Empire were at the tail end of Friday’s storm, much of those areas didn’t really see rain. If they did, it was a fairly small amount.
“We’re really not expecting much more,” Isla said Friday morning. “We’re at the tail end of this trough and it’s pretty weak as it moves through the area so we’re not expecting any significant amounts.”
As dry as those areas were, Los Angeles County and the areas north of it did fairly well, Fisher said. Some areas, he said, saw as much as half an inch of rain, although most places varied from a little over 0.10 of an inch to 0.4 of an inch.
Hannah Chandler, a forecaster for the National Weather Service’s Sacramento office, said the Sacramento Valley saw anywhere between an inch and 2 inches of rainfall. The Sierras were on track for between 8 and 12 inches of snow below 6,000 feet and 12-18 inches above 6,000 feet on Friday.
FRIDAY RAINFALL TOTALS
LOS ANGELES COUNTY:
• Canoga Park - 0.52 of an inch
• Northridge - 0.42 of an inch
• Torrance - 0.12 of an inch
• Long Beach - 0.11 of an inch
SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY:
• Larson Ranch - 0.20 of an inch.
• Lytle Creek Canyon - 0.28 of an inch.
• Day Canyon - 0.07 of an inch
INLAND VALLEY FORECAST
• Today: Highs 60 to 65. Partly cloudy. Light winds.
• Sunday: Highs 64 to 69. Partly cloudy. Light winds. Chance of measurable precipitation in the evening, 50 percent.
• Monday: Highs 57 to 62. Rain likely in the morning. Rain in the afternoon.
• Tuesday: Highs 61 to 66. Mostly cloudy with a chance of showers.
• Wednesday: Highs 70 to 75. Partly cloudy in the morning, becoming mostly sunny. Warmer.
Source: The National Weather Service
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