LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The cold storm that originated in the gulf of Alaska and doused the Southland at the start of the week is largely over, having generated relatively little precipitation, according to the National Weather Service.
“We're mostly done with it,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Dave Bruno in a telephone interview from his weather-monitoring station in Oxnard.
The upper low associated with the storm may still produce scattered showers, resulting in less than a quarter-inch of rain, he said. As for Monday's rainfall, “it was pathetic,” he said, adding that the rainfall was mostly exceedingly low, although 1.06 inch of rain was recorded in Newhall and 2.45 inch at Mt. Wilson. Wednesday in the Southland will be cool and dry, according to Bruno.
In the meantime, the storm system may produce “a slight chance for thunderstorms across the coastal waters north of Point Conception as well as the western portion of the Santa Barbara Channel” today, warned an NWS statement “Any thunderstorms that form will be capable of producing chaotic locally gusty winds and rough seas, dangerous lightning, heavy rainfall with reduced visibility, and isolated waterspouts. If a waterspout is spotted, head away at a 90 degree angle from the apparent direction.”
There have been no mud slides or debris flows resulting from the storm, but “we got close” Monday in southern Santa Barbara County and the Ventura County portion of the Santa Ynez mountain range as the storm produced four inches of rain, Bruno said.
Showers are possible Thursday as an upper low rotates into Central California, Bruno said, with the next storm, another system originating in the Gulf of Alaska, arriving Sunday into Monday, Bruno said.
The NWS forecast a combination of showers and partly cloudy skies today and highs of 38 on Mt. Wilson; 51 in Saugus and Lancaster; 52 in Palmdale; 55 in Burbank; 56 in Pasadena, Burbank, San Gabriel and Woodland Hills; 57 in Avalon; 58 in Long Beach; and 60 in Downtown L.A. and at LAX. Slightly higher temperatures are expected amid Partly cloudy skies Wednesday, followed by mostly cloudy skies and showers amid roughly similar temperatures on Thursday, then rain on Sunday.
Partly cloudy skies were forecast in Orange County today, along with highs of 36 on Santiago Canyon; 47 on Ortega Highway at 2,600 feet; 53 at Fremont Canyon; 54 at Trabuco Canyon; 56 in Laguna Beach; 57 in San Clemente, Yorba Linda and Mission Viejo; 58 in Newport Beach, Fullerton and Anaheim; and 60 in Irvine. Showers are expected Wednesday on Ortega Highway and in San Clemente, but most of the county will experience partly cloudy skies under temperatures a few degrees higher than today's, with showers appearing in some areas Sunday and in more on Monday amid highs in the low to mid 60s.
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