Partly cloudy skies and cool temperatures are forecast Monday in the wake of yesterday's storm, the first to strike the Southland this spring.
While it dumped more than 1½ inches of rain across most of Los Angeles, the National Weather Service recorded rainfall totals of just .87 inches in Santa Monica.
"Sunday's storm is over Nevada and pulling away further to the east," said Weather Service forecasters. "Still some southerly flow is creating a few showers over Eastern L.A. County. These showers will end shortly after dawn."
Malibu and the Conejo and Santa Clarita valleys appeared to bear the brunt of the storm. Rockslides were reported on Mulholland Highway above Malibu, and some ramps and freeway lanes were flooding along the Antelope Valley (14) Freeway near Canyon Country.
Utility crews worked overnight to restore power to more than 15,000 customers affected by outages in Alhambra, Beaumont, Montebello, Santa Clara, Simi Valley, Oxnard, Long Beach, Signal Hill, Redondo Beach, Inglewood, Buena Park, Cypress, Fullerton, Fountain Valley, Crestline and Rialto.
"Rainfall rates over Malibu were around one half inch per hour," the NWS office in Oxnard said. It predicted widespread ponding and intersection flooding as the band of rain moved east into Los Angeles.
Snow was reported on Interstate 5 over the Grapevine at midafternoon, but CHP officers said it was not sticking and the key freeway link remained open—if sodden. Several spinouts and minor crashes were reported along the freeway.
The seasonal rainfall total dating from July 1 is 5.98 inches, about 45 percent of normal for this time of year, which is 13.29 inches, Bruno said.
"Hopefully, we'll make up for some of that today," he said. "But as far as the season goes, it's not looking great."
Los Angeles typically gets about 15 inches of rain per year, most of it December-March.
With the storm hovering above Nevada, milder weather will return to Los Angeles. In Santa Monica, daytimes highs will range from the low- to mid- 60s.
"It will be sunnier and a little warmer Tuesday and cloudier and cooler Wednesday," forecasters said. "Marine layer clouds will return for Thursday and Friday along with a slight warming trend."
— This report was compiled with information from City News Service.
— This story has been updated to include the most recent rainfall data from the National Weather Service.
