Southern California Preparing for Heavy Rain

When you think of Southern California, particularly the Los Angeles Area, you don’t much think of heavy rain, do you?

But the area will look nothing like this through through the weekend. A strong storm system is coming onshore for the weekend that will inundate the LA Basin with copious amounts of heavy rain. This is especially dangerous because this is an area not exactly used to lots and lots of heavy rain.

Models show this area receiving upwards of three inches of rain in a single day. This is an area that only sees around 15 inches per year, so this is a big deal for them. And the weather story from NWS Los Angeles tells the story.

Because of the geography in that part of the world, the area isn’t only susceptible to flash flooding but also landslides and mudslides (especially in areas with wildfire burn scars and that’s not even mentioning the winds of up to 80 MPH wreaking havoc with tree damage and power outages.

Another issue areas further inland have is the potential for a lot of wintry weather in the higher elevations of Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. Thanks to the influx of moisture, areas above 7500 feet have the potential for up to 2 feet of snow.

All of this is associated with a low pressure system coming onshore from the Pacific Ocean that’s already set a low monthly barometric pressure level further north in San Francisco.

For the Pacific Coast in February this is an absolutely powerhouse storm.