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Rain Helps Fight Wildfire, But Season Still Dry

By City News Service
May 6, 2013
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Photo: Claire Asher /Flickr/Creative Commons License

About seven-tenths of an inch of rain fell in downtown Los Angeles overnight and today, helping give firefighters a break but doing little to buoy the season rainfall total, which remains less than half of normal.

The late-season storm could produce light and rain and showers through Tuesday afternoon, but less than 6 inches of rain has fallen in downtown Los Angeles since July 1, according to the National Weather Service.

Los Angeles normally gets about 15 inches per year but, this rain season ranks as the seventh driest on record as of today and is on pace to be the sixth driest season on record.

Up to about 5 inches of snow is possible at elevations of 7,000 feet or more. Big Bear Lake is at 6,759 feet. A NWS winter weather advisory will remain in effect through 11 a.m. Tuesday.

Highs across the region today will be in the 60s, except for the deserts where highs will be in the 80s.

Last week, offshore winds that help push inland temperatures into the 90s made for tough wildfire conditions. A fire that broke out near Camarillo Springs and spread into western Los Angeles County near Malibu scorched about 28,000 acres and was 80 percent contained today.

Winds up to about 15 mph will be mostly out of the south today, due to the counter-clockwise rotation of the low-pressure system responsible for the rain and cool temperatures.

Public health authorities were urging people to stay out of the ocean because of pollution from runoff.

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