Rainy Sunday Expected in Midst of a Dry Winter

A warm Pacific storm is expected to drop rain showers on Southern California on Sunday, but probably not enough to put a serious dent in what is still shaping up as one of the area’s driest winters.

Josh Bemus, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., said up to half an inch of rain is expected in the Los Angeles Basin, with perhaps twice that much in the foothills.

Showers probably will start here about noon on Sunday, continuing off and on through the night before tapering off late Monday morning. Temperatures will remain on the warm side, with a relatively high snow level of between 7,500 and 8,000 feet in Southern California’s mountains.

Bemus said the precipitation will stem from a low-pressure weather system that dipped far enough south to pick up substantial subtropical moisture over the central Pacific.

Moving steadily eastward, the burgeoning storm strengthened as it approached the California coast Friday afternoon. Unfortunately for parched Southern California, most of the rain is expected to fall in the northern and central parts of the state, with only the fringes of the storm reaching Los Angeles.

Only 0.84 of an inch of rain has fallen at the Los Angeles weather station on the USC campus since July 1, less than one-seventh of the normal season’s total for the date of 6.02 inches.

Meteorologists say much of the blame can be pinned on the current La Nina, an enduring oceanographic and meteorological counterpoint to the drenching El Nino season of 1997-98.

Bemus said that after the storm system moves out Monday afternoon, there’s no more rain in sight.

Meteorologists said Southern California is usually drier than normal during La Ninas.