Break From Rain Could Be a Brief One

San Fernando Valley residents can expect a break from the recent rains this week, but how long it will last was uncertain.

“It’s just a lull between the storms,” said Bruce Rockwell, a spokesman for the National Weather Service in Oxnard. “There’s quite a lot of moisture out there.”

Showers expected this morning should lift later in the day. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are expected to be dry with some low clouds along the coast. But forecasters were unsure about what might happen Friday.

“In this kind of situation, things can change pretty rapidly,” Rockwell said. Storms in the Pacific Ocean have been very active.

The brief dry spell forecast for this week would be the result of a high-pressure system, which usually blocks out storm activity, moving over Southern California. But this system is weak enough that it could allow another storm to hit Friday, Rockwell said.

Southern California has had a drier-than-average winter so far. Since July 1, Los Angeles received 4.84 inches of rain. The normal rate is 8.28 inches.

The rains arrived in the past two weeks as the jet stream--which had been directing most storms into Northern California and the Pacific Northwest--moved south to allow rain to hit the Los Angeles region.

At about the same time last year, a heat wave interrupted the rains with record-high temperatures in the 90s. However, this week’s break in the rain will bring only seasonal temperatures. Highs in the Valley on Monday will be in the upper 60s.