This week’s rainstorm brought some much needed moisture to Southern California without the mudslides some feared.
But did it help reduce the fire danger that fueled the unprecedented firestorm in January?
Fire conditions
Forecasters say the amount of rainfall isn’t quite enough to keep Los Angeles’ fire season from dragging into February. It would take 2 to 4 inches of rain to comfortably consider the wildfire season over, said Ryan Kittell, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Oxnard. This storm dropped, generally, half an inch to 1.5 inches across the L.A. Basin.
“It’s not quite where we’d be comfortable to say we’d be good for the season, but certainly providing relief for the next couple weeks,” he said.
Amid the wet weather, containment grew on all of Southern California’s wildfires.
The Palisades, Eaton and Hughes fires in L.A. County were 95%, 99% and 98% contained, respectively, as of Tuesday morning, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Containment of the Border 2 fire in San Diego County was listed at 74%.
What SoCal got
Rainfall in Los Angeles County peaked in Porter Ranch, with its three-day rain total hitting 1.62 inches as of 10 a.m. Monday, according to the National Weather Service. Sepulveda Canyon wasn’t far behind with 1.45 inches, and Santa Monica Pier got 1.38 inches. Some areas, however, didn’t top half an inch: Agoura Hills and Castaic saw a third of an inch; Alhambra got 0.49 of an inch.
Snowfall in the mountains accumulated to more than a foot in some of the highest elevations, including Mountain High in Wrightwood and at Arrowbear Lake. Other peaks saw 1 to 10 inches: Mt. Wilson recorded 10 inches, Frazier Park got 2 to 4 inches and Mt. Baldy got 5 to 10 inches, according to the National Weather Service.
Here are some three-day rain totals, from the weather service:
- Santa Monica Pier — 1.38 inches
- Culver City— 1.06
- Beverly Hills — 1.02
- Bel Air — 0.93
- Hollywood Reservoir — 0.87
- Leo Carrillo State Beach — 0.31
- Porter Ranch —1.62
- Northridge — 1.36
- Calabasas — 1.12
- Canoga Park — 1.10
- Chatsworth Reservoir —1.05
- Hansen Dam — 1.00
- San Rafael Hills — 0.72
- La Cañada Flintridge — 0.57
- Agoura Hills — 0.33
- La Verne — 1.10
- Claremont — 0.72
- Santa Fe Dam — 0.61
- Eagle Rock Reservoir — 0.59
- Whittier — 0.59
- Sierra Madre — 0.54
- Alhambra — 0.49
- Newhall — 0.79
- Castaic — 0.30
‘Dodged a bullet’
Although the much-anticipated rainfall had many fire-weary Angelenos hopeful, forecasters had also been worried that the system would create thunderstorms or strong storm cells that would inundate the regions’ fresh burn scars, wreaking more havoc on the disaster-fatigued region. But luckily, Kittell said, the heaviest rain missed those areas.
“This was a largely beneficial rain. … I think we dodged a bullet,” he said. “It helped with the firefights and definitely gives us a break from fire weather.”
Some areas saw significant downpours, with heavy rain falling in a short amount of time, causing some minor flooding and road closures from mud and debris, especially in the Santa Monica Mountains. But the worst-case scenario didn’t play out, Kittell said.
Forecasts show the next few days relatively dry, but there are some chances for rain this weekend or next week, which could continue to ease the fire threat if it materializes, Kittell said.
There area “a few signals for one or two rain events,” he said.
