The westbound lanes of the Pacific Coast Highway were blocked by a mudslide in Santa Monica, while large boulders blocked both lanes at the intersection of Malibu Canyon Road and Piuma Road in Agoura Hills. Flooding also blocked the HOV lane and a second lane on Interstate 5 in Burbank for a time late Monday morning.
The hardest-hit areas appeared to be between Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo. Montecito reported 8.84 inches of rain, with 9.71 inches a few miles to the northeast in the mountains near Toro Canyon Creek. Most of the Ventura County mountains have received at least 6 inches of rain, with 5 inches just north of Malibu and 4.36 inches at Pepperdine University. Downtown Los Angeles has seen considerably less rainfall, but more is on the way. It has already received 11.64 inches of rain this month, fifth most on record; if two more inches fall, it would be the wettest February on record.
In Southern California, there is the risk of an isolated tornado or waterspout, following several tornado warnings in the Sacramento Valley on Monday. At least one of the storms that triggered tornado warnings marched into the mountains and produced snow.
Highs winds in the central and northern parts of the state toppled trees and power lines. While the strongest winds have eased, more than 10,000 customers remained without power Tuesday.
The atmospheric river’s influence is expected to finally wane by Wednesday evening, but active weather looks to return in time for the weekend.
Where is the atmospheric river now?
The atmospheric river — a filament of deep, tropical moisture from near Hawaii — is being swirled ashore by low pressure stationed off Oregon. It worked its way down the coast and is now aimed at Southern California. San Diego and Los Angeles are in the crosshairs of the moisture plume, and they will be for much of Tuesday.
Behind it, a pocket of frigid air aloft is moving overhead in association with the core of the upper-level low pressure. That will lead to scattered downpours and perhaps a few thunderstorms across most of California through Wednesday evening.
A few of those thunderstorms could produce small hail, an isolated funnel cloud or even a rogue tornado.
A Level 3 out of 4 risk of flash flooding and excessive rainfall has been drawn to include the Los Angeles metro area. “Individual showers and any embedded storms will be moving very quickly,” wrote the National Weather Service, but “training will be constant,” meaning downpours will continuously move over the same areas like train cars on a track.
An additional 2 to 4 inches of rain is probable in the mountains north of Los Angeles, while downtown areas see closer to an inch, or perhaps more if downpours do indeed train.
The issue with this storm isn’t so much the rainfall totals — which will be markedly less than with the previous storm, which dropped upward of 7 inches of rain in two days. Instead, the concern is for rainfall rates topping half an inch per hour. That will quickly overwhelm soils and the already saturated ground, leading to additional flooding.
Across Central and Northern California, meanwhile, the rain is largely done, with only an isolated shower over the next 36 hours.
Heavy snows and high winds
Snow levels in the…
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