Slow-Moving Storm Lingers

A rainstorm that hit the area Tuesday morning took its time arriving.

“It was a really slow-moving storm,” said Jeff House, meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., a service that provides weather information to The Times. “It moved onshore from the Pacific later than we thought it would, and then it just lingered.”

The showers stayed over the San Fernando Valley for most of the day, but the rainfall was never heavy.

“This storm came from the central Pacific on the jet stream and took a dive south into Southern California,” House said. “If it would have come up from the tropics, it would have been carrying a lot more moisture.”

House said the accumulated rainfall, predicted to end about midnight, would be only about a quarter of an inch in the Valley.

Today there may be some fog in the morning, but that should quickly burn off, and then it will be warm and mostly sunny, with highs in the upper 60s to mid-70s, he said.

Tonight’s temperatures, however, will be on the cool side--mid-40s to low 50s.

House said Thursday’s weather will be almost a carbon copy of today’s until the late afternoon, when clouds will move in. Rain is forecast Friday.

“The storm we think will arrive Friday looks definitely bigger than the one earlier in the week,” House said. “But again, it won’t be a major storm. It will just give you some more rain.”