AccuWeather's California Expert Ken Clark talks about the much-needed rain hitting California for the first time in months. Some areas have seen as much as two inches of rain, stamping out wildfires.

Southern California

More than a thousand structures have been destroyed and lives lost as wildfires sweep across parts of Los Angeles.

LA Wildfires

The first significant rainfall in months has hit Southern California, with some areas experiencing as much as two inches, as shared by AccuWeather meteorologist Ken Clark. This welcomed rain, generated off the coastal waters of the Pacific, has helped to extinguish ongoing wildfires. In parts like UCLA, nearly two inches of rain were recorded, marking the most substantial daily rainfall in eight or nine months.

The storm, despite the challenges in bringing the jet stream south, has been beneficial overall. However, it has also caused mudslides and debris flows in burn areas. Clark emphasized that current moist conditions would prevent the rekindling of fires, as weather patterns indicate no return of Santa Ana winds. The effects of a low pressure system moving southward from Los Angeles might result in occasional snow on mountain slopes and spotty showers in lower elevations.

There's a concern about the snowpack levels in the central and southern Sierra and the upper Colorado River Basin, which are below normal. The snowpack is critical for filling reservoirs in spring. Conversely, Northern California's reservoirs are in a better position due to rainfall in previous months. This rainfall pattern has provided timely relief by suppressing fires, with no Santa Ana winds forecasted. 



First significant rain returns to Southern California

Joining me right now is our California expert, joining us from Racho Cucamonga this morning in California, meteorologist Ken Clark. You know, Ken, first of all, your impressions of this storm so far, we have some rainfall totals, 24-hour totals, and then some 36-hour totals here, but certainly some much-needed rain. Very much needed rain. I'm not surprised about an inch or so of rain. I am a little surprised and welcoming that some places they even have as much as almost two inches of rain on this. So in some aspects, this storm a little bit overachieved. We really didn't have a lot of moisture input that we typically see for storms. This generated the moisture just off the coastal waters of the Pacific, bringing that moisture inland and causing this rainfall. 1.92 in UCLA, that's got to be the most rainfall they've seen in a day in eight or nine months. So it's been very beneficial for most people. There were problems, of course, in the burn areas. We expected that to happen, and there were mudslides and debris flows there. You know, Ken, one thing I've learned, it's hard to get the rain down in California because it's hard to get the jet stream that far south, but when you can get it this far south, it seems like it's always overachieved, as you hinted when we talked to you late last week. Really quickly, the fires, this has really pretty much stamped everything out, has it not? It has. We can kind of put those fires, let's put it this way, on the back burner now. We don't have to be concerned about them at all. Very moist conditions will continue, and so we don't see any return of sand and winds. We don't see that fire is rekindling. They're done for. All right, now we have that still of this upper low. You can see at the center of that now, about trying to move out south of Los Angeles. Now, the question is, winds more out of the east, northeast in LA, but I know you're concerned that there's still a lot of cold air underneath this upper low, and that means with the sun out, there's going to be some spotty showers, and you're even worried about a thunderstorm today. I am. There's a lot of moisture rotating around this low, and you can kind of see that on that radar loop, how we expect moisture to continue to rotate around that low. Now, the sun will be out at times. North slopes of the mountains will see occasional snow most of the day today, and probably another six or eight inches of snow. South of the mountains in the lower elevations, scattered showers will become a little more numerous as we go through the day. As the sun heats the lower parts of the atmosphere, we bubble up some more showers. Could be a thunderstorm too, and we are looking for maybe more of the showers to occur from the valleys on eastward than, let's say, out toward Point Conception or even the Malibu area. It should be less than that area than farther east. Now, Ken, the other thing we always talk about, you know, the snowpack is so important for California because it's the snowpack that melts and fills the reservoirs during the spring months here. Northern California, we're doing okay in the northern Sierra, but boy, the central and southern Sierra and the upper Colorado River Basin, we're running a little bit below where we should. Yeah, and I don't see how that's going to improve a great deal over the next week or so. Northern California, mainly because of how wet it was a month or two ago. We had all that rain up there in northern California in the lowlands and, of course, the snow in the mountains. Those reservoirs up there are doing just fine, and in fact, much of the water coming even into southern California comes from those two major reservoirs in the north. So that's good news there. We need more snow in the south. But the good news is, Ken, as you mentioned, this pattern has really, really stamped down the fires. No more Santa Ana is expected anytime soon, and that's certainly a big relief. All right, meteorologist Ken Clark, thanks for joining us here on AccuWeather Early.

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LA Wildfires