LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Scattered showers are expected in the Southland today from a storm that, a day earlier, produced virtually no rain in some communities but heavy downpours in others, along with lightning, thunder and hail.
Most of today's rainfall likely won't materialize until this afternoon, said National Weather Service meteorologist Dave Bruno. The last of the storm, which arrived Tuesday night, probably won't show up until Saturday evening, he said, adding that the next weather system is not expected until Tuesday or Wednesday.
The National Weather Service reported about 2:40 p.m. Wednesday -- the first day of spring -- that a rain cell parked over the Compton area had been dumping heavy rain for two hours and was causing flooding on the Long Beach (710) Freeway between the San Diego (405) and Artesia (91) freeways. In Carson, street flooding left some vehicles stranded. The same cell was producing thunderstorms and pea-to marble-sized hail.
As thunderstorms and hail were reported in the Long Beach area, heavy rain also showed up in the San Fernando Valley, falling in Porter Ranch around 1:15 p.m.
Despite the downpours, there were no mud flows or debris runoffs, even over areas that wildfires have stripped of vegetation. Rainfall rates in most areas were less than the half-inch per hour threshold.
The strong cell in southern Los Angeles County was expected to have produced about 1 1/2 inches of rain, but most other parts of the Southland were not affected by thunderstorms and received about a quarter inch of rain, according to the NWS.
“Downtown got zero,” Bruno said, calling Wednesday “kind of an interesting day.
Along the coast, a high surf advisory is scheduled in Los Angeles County until 3 p.m. today but 1 p.m. Friday in Orange County.
Temperatures, meanwhile, were cooler-than-normal -- about 6 degrees below normal in downtown L.A. and 3-5 degrees below normal in the San Fernando Valley, forecasters said.
The NWS forecast a combination of rain and cloudy skies in L.A. County today, along with highs of 43 degrees on Mount Wilson; 56 in Avalon; 57 in Palmdale; 58 in Lancaster; 61 in Burbank; 62 in Pasadena, San Gabriel and at LAX; and 63 in Long Beach, Woodland Hills and Downtown L.A.
Showers were forecast in Orange County, along with highs of 38 on Santiago Peak; 50 on Ortega Highway at 2,600 feet; 56 in Fremont and Trabuco canyons; 58 in San Clemente; 59 in Laguna Beach; 60 in Yorba Linda and Mission Viejo; 61 in Newport Beach; and 63 in Fullerton, Anahein and Irvine.
Friday will be a couple of degrees warmer amid sunny skies in L.A. County and up to 5 degrees warmer amid partly cloudy skies in Orange County.
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