A pair of much-needed winter storms are headed to Southern California this week with the first expected to arrive in Los Angeles County sometime Tuesday.
The National Weather Service has been tracking the storms and has dialed in the timing of Tuesday’s storm along with the expected precipitation amounts.
Morning showers can be expected for areas further north, like San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara but rain is not likely to reach Los Angeles until afternoon.
The Weather Service is predicting a 10% to 20% chance of rain between noon and 6 p.m. in Los Angeles with rain more likely arriving after 6 p.m. By midnight, the forecasters are calling for a nearly 100% chance of rain.
“It’s looking like we’re going to see rain spreading all across Southern California with some gusty winds creating a very wet Wednesday,” KTLA’s Kirk Hawkins said Tuesday morning.
This first storm is not expected to be a big rainmaker, bringing only about a quarter of an inch of rain to most areas in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. The good news is that the lower rain totals bring only a “minimal risk” of mud and debris flows to the region’s burn scar areas.
The Weather Service is forecasting a second storm to reach Southern California Thursday night into Friday. This storm looks to be a bigger threat to the burn areas as forecasters expect it to bring more moisture.
Although the Weather Service indicated there is still “low confidence in amounts,” they are indicating between a quarter of an inch to an inch of rain with mountain and foothill areas possibly receiving 2 inches.
