Rain, snow expected to persist through Friday as two storms pass over Southern California

A pair of storms passing through Southern California between Tuesday, March 5, and Friday, March 8, will drop even more precipitation onto areas that have already received well above their average rainfall totals.

Residents in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties will see the first of two storms hitting all of Southern California this week on Tuesday or Tuesday evening. The heaviest showers should come on Wednesday morning, especially in the San Bernardino Mountains, then taper off into the evening.

From Tuesday to Thursday, between two to four inches of rain should fall across the San Bernardino mountains, and the Riverside mountains should get between one to three inches. The area from Fullerton to the Inland Empire could receive as much as 1.5 inches of precipitation, while communities further south could get average about an inch. As much as an inch of rain could also come down in High Desert communities like Victorville. Long Beach, El Segundo and other coastal cities in the Los Angeles Basin can expect between 1 and 1.25 inches.

Forecasters predict that precipitation will persist through the week as a second storm makes landfall on Friday. It should deliver less rain, but significantly colder temperatures going into the weekend. Rainfall totals should average between one-third to a full inch across Southern California during this later storm, but it should drop the snowfall level to about 5,000 feet. The second storm could drop over 6 inches of snow onto the Big Bear resort area, and between 1 and 3 inches in other mountain communities.

Peak rainfall rates could reach between .5 and .8 inches per hour in parts of the Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties scarred by recent wildfires, prompting NWS officials to issue Flash Flood watches in those areas effective Tuesday night into early Wednesday. Residents were told to expect rock and mudslides along canyon roads and steep terrain.

Meanwhile, authorities did not expect to implement similar advisories in counties further south.

“The atmospheric river will be weakening as it moves South and East, which is why we don’t expect to issue flash flood warnings from Orange County to the Inland Empire,” said NWS meteorologist Dan Gregoria. “But, people will have to deal with wet, slick roads.”

The latest storms contribute to what has already been a wetter-than-average year across California. Most of the state has received between 125 to 150 percent of  average rainfall totals for this time of year, according to NWS data.