Scattered Showers Expected to Clear Today, but a New Storm Is Hovering

Bands of showers moved through Southern California over the weekend and were expected to drop about an inch of rain in the Los Angeles Basin by the time skies clear later today.

The quirky storm surprised forecasters, who had predicted only a slight chance of light rain.

Instead of moving through Southern California, a low-pressure system simply sat about 500 to 600 miles off the coast, generating more rain than had been forecast.

“Our computer models just do not do a good job on these kinds of storms,� National Weather Service meteorologist George McKillop said. “A typical storm moves on, giving us rain one day in California and snow in the Rockies the next. It’s like if you toss a Frisbee into a creek, it flows downstream. That’s predictable. It’s called a trough.

“But this turned into what we call a cutoff flow. It’s like the Frisbee got caught in an eddy and didn’t move. . . . You can’t always predict when that will happen.�

The most rainfall was recorded atop Mt. Wilson, where 2.6 inches fell between 4 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday.

The rain gauge in El Toro measured 0.56 of an inch by 4 p.m. Other rainfall figures for the period were 0.08 of an inch in Santa Ana and 0.20 in San Juan Capistrano.

No serious power outages or traffic accidents were attributed to the storm.

McKillop said another half an inch was expected to fall in some areas of the basin on Sunday night. The weather service said that there would be showers and a few thunderstorms overnight in Orange County, with gusty southerly winds of up to 30 m.p.h.

Showers this morning are expected to decrease in the afternoon, when the chance of rain will fall to 20%.

Snow levels in the Southern California mountains will be above 7,500 feet, which would not be of much help to ski resort operators.

Dry and mild temperatures are forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday. But a new storm building off the coast of Alaska is expected to bring more wet weather to Southern California by Thursday or Friday, forecasters said.

“It’s a strong storm, and the Southland will get a piece of it,� said Dan Bowman of WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times. “The system doesn’t have a heck of a lot of cold air, so temperatures should stay in the mid-60s to 70.�

The mercury hit 81 in Newport Beach Sunday, where the overnight low was 52. Other highs and lows for the period: 79 and 54, El Toro; 72 and 58, Santa Ana; 69 and 59, San Juan Capistrano.