Mild morning temperatures will make way for sunny skies across Southern California this week, but don't store those umbrellas and rain boots away just yet. More wet weather on the horizon.
Temperatures throughout the week are expected to be in the mid to upper 60s along the coast, which is close to normal for February, said Mike Wofford, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
Offshore flow, which keeps air moving from land to sea, will weaken in the coming days, allowing cool sea breezes to sweep across the region and daytime high temperatures drop by a degree or two to the mid-60s. Overnight temperatures are expected to be particularly brisk, dropping into the mid-40s in some areas, according to the weather service.
“It's going to be kind of chilly in the morning, but it's going to be a nice week most of the time,” Wofford said.
Forecasters expect the storm system to begin dumping rain on the area by Sunday. It's not clear how much rain it could bring, but Wofford said preliminary estimates show anywhere between 2 to 4 inches of rain in the valley and coastal areas.
Last week, an atmospheric river brought five days of heavy rain and heavy snow to California. The storm, made more severe by El Nino and climate change, is the largest so far in the state this winter.
Heavy rains caused more than 500 mudslides in Los Angeles alone. The hurricane damaged more than 45 homes or buildings, flooded roads, forced dozens to evacuate, and cut off power to residents, sometimes for several days. Nine people died in the storm.
It's still too early to say what all this wet weather will mean for California's water supply.
Recent storms filled the state's largest reservoirs to 118% of their historical average. Statewide precipitation was 102% of average for the date, with more than 13 inches having fallen since the start of the water year on Oct. 1, according to state data.
The storms also did not bring enough snow to replenish the Sierra Nevada snowpack, which remains a major component of the state's water supply. A storm is expected to snow this weekend, but it's not clear how much, meteorologists say.
The latest series of storms increased statewide snowpack to 76% of average for the date. But it's still about halfway to its April 1 peak, according to data provided by the California Department of Water Resources.
“It's going to be a good storm and definitely an above average storm,” Wofford said of the system moving into California over the weekend. “We're not sure yet if it will be like what we saw last time, but there is some possibility of it.”
