Winter storm expected to bring rain, snow to Southern California

California’s deadly wildfires could come to an end in the coming days as a weekend storm drenches historically dry terrain, but the storm will come with the potential for a different problem: flash flooding.

Flood watch alerts have been issued in the same areas of Los Angeles that were scorched by the flames that began burning this month amid hurricane-force winds after a stretch of more than seven months without rain, a record for parts of southern California.

The 24-hour flood watch alerts cover the still-active Palisades Fire, which has burned 23,448 acres and is 79% contained, and the Eaton Fire, which has burned 14,021 acres and is 95% contained, as of 4 pm on Sunday.

The National Weather Service said the possibility of landslides inspired the watches, which indicate that flooding conditions are favorable but not imminent. Federal forecasters said the chance of significant flooding and debris flow is 10% to 20%.

“While damaging debris flows are not the most likely outcome, there is still a lot of uncertainty with this storm,” the weather service office in Oxnard said Friday. “The threat is high enough to prepare for a worst-case scenario.”

The burn scar created by the September Bridge Fire in the Angeles National Forest above the San Gabriel Valley and the Hughes Fire area in the forest northwest of Los Angeles, which started earlier this week and has burned 10,396 acres and was 79% contained on Friday, was also contained on Friday, was contained on Friday, Under scheduled flood watches.

Los Angeles County, as well as cities such as Los Angeles, Pasadena and Baldwin Park, offer sandbags to residents who want to prepare for the possibility of mud flows.

Rain could begin falling in Los Angeles County on Saturday afternoon and be heaviest on Sunday, when “moderate to locally heavy rain and hail or graupel” were possible, according to a weather service forecast discussion.

A quarter-inch of rain could fall in urban Los Angeles, while up to an inch was possible in San Diego, forecasters said. Sunday could be the rainiest day, they said.

Expected snow in the Southern California mountains and their communities, including Wrightwood, Big Bear City, Big Bear Lake, Crestline, Running Springs and Lake Arrowhead, has inspired winter storm warnings for the San Gabriel and San Bernardino ranges. The 48-hour warnings will begin at 4 pm Sunday.

Up to 18 inches of snow could accumulate above the 6,000-foot elevation level, with up to 6 inches possible above 4,000 feet from Saturday afternoon through Monday afternoon, the weather service said.

The Vital Highway 5, which runs between the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada, could get a “dust” of snow that could amount to 1 to 2 inches in the Lebec area along its vine, the utility office said. Weather in Oxnard in a Forecast Discussion. Travel disruption was possible, the office said.

Even the mountains of urban Los Angeles and San Diego counties could see snow accumulation of 14 inches and 8 inches, respectively. The forecast comes as the Border 2 Fire in San Diego County had burned 6,273 acres as of Thursday, with 10% containment as of Friday night.

The Weather Service office in San Diego said that on Jan. 10 only .14 inches of rain had fallen since the start of the water year on Oct. 1, representing the driest winter since 1860, when officials began recording weather data. .

Southern California temperatures over the weekend are expected to drop 10 to 15 degrees, forecasters said.



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