Jan 1, 2008 1:51 pm US/Pacific
Strong Storms To Soak Southland Starting Soon
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
The heaviest Southland rain in three years can be expected to fall over the next five days, as a series of three powerful Pacific storms will dump what the National Weather Service thinks will be "quite impressive" precipitation.
As much as 10 inches of rain could fall on the south-facing slopes of the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains during the second storm, which will be the most-powerful of the three. Burn areas such as Santa Clarita, Malibu and the Santa Ana Mountains could suffer such heavy rains as to trigger mudflows and landslides, the Weather Service warned.
Mountain resorts in the Inland Empire will be too warm for snow during most of the rainfall, meaning flooding could occur in newly-burned areas now covered with snow there, meteorologists said.
The National Weather Service issued a special weather statement at midday Tuesday, predicting that three low pressure systems in a row will bring a combination of heavy onshore winds and rain starting Thursday night. The strong winds will push rain clouds up against local mountains, causing heavy "orographic" rainfall as moisture is squeezed out of clouds as they are pushed into and over the mountains.
A second and considerably-stronger storm will sweep in Friday morning,
bringing heavier rain and stronger winds.
"The potential for high intensity rainfall will certainly bring the strong possibility of debris flows to the burn areas Friday afternoon into early Saturday," the Weather Service statement warned.
Both of those storms are expected to be warm-weather events, keeping
snowfall above the elevation of most resort areas in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains.
But they will be supplanted by a cold, third storm moving in from the north Saturday, bringing yet more rain and much-colder temperatures. The snow level will finally drop Saturday, down to 5,500 above sea level, the NWS said.
West-facing beaches from Ventura to San Diego may get some large breakers, as the storms' strong winds are expected to generate heavy swells, the Weather Service warned.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
