A fast-moving storm drenched Los Angeles overnight and triggered a flash flood warning in a local burn scar Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.
The storm dumped more than 1.5 inches of rain in Ojai in Ventura County, nearly three-quarters of an inch in downtown Los Angeles and dropped rain at nearly .75 inches an hour in the Angeles National Forest — with some isolated spots seeing closer to an inch per hour — triggering a flash flood warning.
“Wow! That was some impressive rain that moved quickly through coastal Ventura County,” the National Weather Service’s Oxnard office posted on X on Tuesday night, adding that it received .66 inches of rain from the quick-moving storm.
By 6 a.m. Wednesday, the storm was flowing east at about 15 mph and was exiting Los Angeles County hours earlier than initially expected.
“It moved faster than anticipated, which did result in a little bit higher rainfall rates,” said Ryan Kittell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
No major issues were reported, although some areas saw minor flooding, he said.
In general, L.A. County rainfall totals ranged from .25 to a little over an inch along the coast and in the valleys and 1 to 2 inches in the foothills and mountains, Kittell said. Some high-elevation mountain areas received a few inches of snow, but precise measurements were not immediately available, he said.
The storm also brought fierce winds, which blew at 30 to 40 mph in the Santa Monica Mountains and 50 to 70 mph in the San Gabriel Mountains and Antelope Valley, Kittell said. One weather station, in Sandberg in the Antelope Valley, recorded a gust of 71 mph.
Overnight, the storm flooded a lane of the 5 Freeway near Dodger Stadium, the roadway where the 710 Freeway meets the 5 Freeway, a lane of the northbound 110 Freeway where it connects with the 105 Freeway and all lanes of the 710 Freeway south of Cesar Chavez Avenue.
The rain is expected to continue on and off across the Southland before tapering off in the afternoon, according to a weather service forecast.
Conditions are expected to remain dry through Saturday, Kittell said. On Sunday, another active storm pattern is expected to reach the region, bringing multiple storms that could drop rain across the area through Wednesday or Thursday of next week, he said. Forecasters are still working to model the expected rainfall rates, totals and periods of most concern.
Those storms are expected to be colder than many we’ve experienced so far this seaon, with snow levels dropping to 4,500 to 5,500 feet, he said.
