After five days of torrential rain and heavy snowfall, driven primarily by a relentless atmospheric river storm that caused widespread flooding, mudslides and power outages, Southern California should finally begin to dry out.
“Over the next week, it looks like it will be dry,” Mike Wofford, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard, said Thursday. Sunshine is even in the forecast for Friday, and a “slow warming trend” should begin early next week, forecasters said.
But it's far from the end of the wet winter season, and the latest long-range forecasts show a return of heavy precipitation and high-altitude snow by Feb. 17, according to the National Climate Prediction Center.
“We're probably expecting something next weekend, in about nine days,” Wofford said, but the amount of rain or the specific details of a storm are still too far away to make specific predictions.
Wednesday night saw the latest increase in rain in Los Angeles County, coming from a low pressure system that brought some downpours and flash flood warnings. Wofford said up to an inch of rain fell at some higher elevations and a quarter to half an inch countywide, which further raised the five-day rainfall totals, reaching more than 14 inches in some places, including Topanga and the Cogswell Dam north of Monrovia.
As of Thursday morning, downtown Los Angeles had received 9.03 inches since Saturday, more than half the annual average rainfall of 14.25.
The weather service also reported that there was a probable tornado in the Pismo and Grover Beach area on Wednesday afternoon, where the storm's wind gusts reached 60 mph, downing trees and power lines. The National Weather Service's Oxnard office had not yet confirmed the tornado, but planned to assess the damage Thursday to “determine whether the damage in this area was due to a tornado or severe straight-line winds.”
Wednesday's storm also brought more snow to the Southern California mountains, accumulating totals of up to 3 feet, officials said. Snow-covered mountains caused widespread school closures Thursday, with conditions still hazardous, including in Bear Valley Unified, Rim of the World Unified and Snowline Joint Unified, which includes Wrightwood.
Late Wednesday, Mt. Baldy in San Bernardino County had about 3 feet of snow, as did Mountain High and Snow Valley.
Riverside County's mountains, including Idyllwild, remained under a winter storm warning through noon Thursday, with up to 7 inches of additional snow possible.
Further south, rain was still persisting, according to Elizabeth Adams, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Diego. San Diego County was expected to experience continued rain into the early hours of Friday, before dry weather set in over the weekend.
