Days of scattered showers are in the forecast for Southern California. The first of two systems will bring scattered showers Wednesday into Thursday, followed by a second system bringing steadier rain on Friday into Saturday. Snow levels will remain above 7,500 to 8,000 feet for mountain communities.
The first system off the coast will drop rain over the ocean before eventually moving east. Rainfall will be spread across several hours, making it unlikely the system will produce significant downpours. Clouds will increase Tuesday night and by Wednesday, the first scattered rain will arrive.
The on-and-off showers will amount to .50 to 1.50 inches of rain for the coast, basin and valleys. In the foothills and mountains, one to 2 inches of rain are forecast with snow levels at 7,500 to 8,000 feet and winds gusting from 30 to 50 mph.
Steadier rain arrives Friday with lingering showers on Saturday. A band of steady rain is expected to move across the region late Friday into early Saturday morning.
“It’s not a constant rain,” said NBCLA forecaster Melissa Magee. “It will not be a washout. We’re kind of in and out of these scattered showers.”
The rain is expected to create slick roads due to the long dry weather period and oil accumulation, so extra caution is advised. High temperatures will drop into the upper 60s Wednesday in Los Angeles and on the coast and stay there into the weekend.
The rain arrives at a time when Los Angeles commuters are already facing problems due to the closure of the 10 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles. A stretch of the road is closed after a fire under an elevated section of the freeway over the weekend.
California is drought-free as it enters the wettest months of the year, according to the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor report. At this time last year, 99 percent of the state was in moderate drought with 41 percent of the state in extreme drought.