Amid a record-breaking heat wave, firefighters in Southern California have struggled over the last week to contain three large wildfires that have scorched more than 100,000 acres.
The arson-sparked Line fire has chewed through 38,000 acres in the San Bernardino Mountains between Highland and Big Bear Lake, prompting the evacuation of several mountain communities. The Bridge fire consumed nearly 53,000 acres in the San Gabriel Mountains in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, destroying more than a dozen structures. And the Airport fire swept through 23,000 acres in Orange and Riverside counties.
The three blazes are still largely uncontrolled, but an incoming cold front and cloudy weather this weekend are expected to offer some reprieve, officials said Saturday. Much of Southern California saw temperatures ranging from the high 60s to mid-70s throughout the day.
Many parts of the region are expected to see a double-digit drop in temperatures, extensive cloud cover and a chance for light rain over the next few days, according to the National Weather Service. In one of the most drastic swings, downtown Los Angeles is forecast to see high temperatures in the low 70s, a nearly 40-degree drop from its high of 112 degrees Sept. 6. There is even a slight chance for light rain Wednesday and Thursday.
These milder conditions — along with increased humidity — are also expected to extend farther inland near the wildfires.
“As we’ve seen the last few days, there’s been a pretty good cooling trend from the excessive heat wave that we saw persist for almost a week,” National Weather Service meteorologist Bryan Lewis said. “This provides some really nice relief, especially after these fires have been going out of control.”
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection credited high moisture levels with slowing the Line fire, which was 25% contained as of Saturday but continued to creep into dry vegetation while making occasional runs along slopes. Favorable wind conditions also helped keep the Bridge fire — the largest active wildfire in California — within its current footprint but it remained only 3% contained Saturday. The Airport fire was only 9% contained.
Patchy fog and drizzling rain could help firefighters in these hot spots as well.
“We’re calling it more of a drizzle to light rain,” Lewis said. “That’ll likely impact these lower elevation areas. It’ll help dampen the fuels and potentially help put out some of the smaller spot fires.”
Meanwhile, communities stretching from the San Gabriel Mountains to Lake Elsinore remain under a smoke advisory from the South Coast Air Quality Management District. The air district has encouraged residents to take precautions to protect themselves from dangerous levels of air pollution, including remaining indoors and keeping windows closed as wildfires have released large plumes of smoke and ash, which continue to hover over nearby communities.
Last week, several air monitors in the Inland Empire detected fine-particulate pollution levels above the federal health limits, including Riverside, Ontario and Fontana. An air monitor in Big Bear City recorded the highest level with a daily average of 372 parts per million, more than 10 times higher than the federal health standard.
The pollution has eased in many areas. However, communities in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains were still experiencing unhealthy air quality, according to the air district.
As an assistant dean of diversity and inclusion at USC, Dr. Althea Alexander spent time speaking in high school classrooms across the United States, in search of undeveloped talent among Black and brown students in hopes of guiding them toward the field of medicine.
She mentored minority medical students and sought to improve the school’s efforts to recruit diverse students. Her work, spanning five decades, paid off tenfold: She influenced the career paths of hundreds who would go on to become medical school deans, chief executives and even California’s surgeon general.
Alexander, 89, died on July 17 after suffering a brain hemorrhage, according to her daughter, Kim Alexander-Brettler. Her mother formed deep and enduring relationships driven by a passion for civil rights and sincerity in helping young people better themselves and their communities, Alexander-Brettler said.
“It’s not anything she had to practice,” Alexander-Brettler said. “It came from her soul. It came very naturally for her to give.”
Alexander arrived at USC in 1968, becoming the first female and Black faculty member. At the time, there was one Black and one Latino medical student enrolled. Alexander sought to change that. USC estimates that she influenced the lives of at least 800 minority students at the Keck School of Medicine by her retirement in 2019.
In 1969, she became the inaugural dean of Minority Affairs, which would later become the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. In 1992, she told The Times that she believed students of color were never told that they had the intelligence, capability or sensitivity to become doctors, and she wanted to instill that in them as early as she could.
She spoke at high schools and encouraged students to keep in touch. She promised the students and their families that if they put in the work, she would help them as best as she could to find them a place in a medical school.
“We have to train young people to make a contribution to society,” she told The Times. “If someone would give us a grant to start in kindergarten, I would do that.”
Among them was Dr. Diana E. Ramos, who was a high schooler headed to USC for undergrad when she met Althea and her husband, Fredric. At an annual check-up, Ramos met a nurse practitioner who introduced her to her boss, Fredric, after learning she wanted to be a doctor. He introduced her to his wife, an assistant dean at USC’s medical school, and from then on, Althea became a guiding force for Ramos, who was born in South Central and the first in her family to go to college. Ramos graduated from USC’s medical school in 1994.
“Whenever I was wanting to give up or just needed a little pep talk, she was always there,” said Ramos, who became California’s surgeon general in 2022. When Ramos took on the role with lingering feelings of inadequacy, Alexander quelled those doubts and told her she was fit for the job. “Of course,” her mentor told her. “Why not you?”
At USC, Alexander pushed admissions to consider non-traditional experiences in addition to grades and test scores, such as considering an applicant’s work and family history. She and her family hosted dozens of students, often for months at a time, in their home. Alexander helped others pay rent and bought cars for those who couldn’t afford them so they could attend school, Alexander-Brettler said.
Alexander had a national and international influence as well, with many of the students at USC going on to study across the country. At a memorial service held Saturday, where former students shared stories of her impact on their lives, speakers shared how Alexander encouraged them to come to the U.S. from China to expand their medical education.
She did not shy away about speaking bluntly about racism in the medical field. She previously told The Times about an instance when she went to the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center to seek aid after breaking her arm. A white attending resident told her to “hold your arm like you usually hold your can of beer on Saturday night.”
“What are you talking about?” she demanded. “Do you think I’m a welfare mother?”
She told students that they would surely confront the same issues.
“This is not a utopia,” Alexander would say. “You are what you are. … You cannot die on every hill here. If somebody makes a racist comment in class, you cannot spend all your energy on that. Be principled and deal with it. Say: ‘I don’t appreciate that.’ Then, move on.”
She shared a passion for civil rights advocacy, joining protesters during the East L.A. protests in 1970, and had a United Farm Workers flag hanging in her office signed by Cesar Chavez.
Alexander had known her husband, Fredric Eugene, since they were children because their parents were union organizers. But in 1959, a young civil rights leader named Martin Luther King Jr. reintroduced the two. Fredric and Althea married at the Unitarian Church in downtown L.A. Fredric died in 2009.
Althea Alexander was born March 16, 1935, in Berkeley. In addition to her daughter, she is survived by her son, Sean Alexander, and granddaughters Danielle and Lauren Brettler.
Alexander loved music and made a habit of attending live performances. Alexander-Brettler recalled one Prince concert at the Forum where she begged her mom to leave as it approached midnight because she had work the next day. But Alexander insisted that they stay through all four songs in Prince’s encore, dancing all the while. To close Saturday’s memorial service, USC’s marching band performed.
“It was the cherry on the top,” Alexander-Brettler said. “We had a party at the end there.”
Alexander’s legacy lives on: In 1997, one USC alumna established the Althea Alexander Endowed Scholarship Fund to support minority medical students. A group of students established the Althea and Fredric Alexander Student Support Fund to financially support medical students’ professional development where donations can be made in her memory.
The shooter trained his AR-style rifle on people gathered far from his rooftop perch, echoing the mass shooting in 2017 in which a gunman opened fire on a music festival from the 32nd floor of a Las Vegas hotel.
Law enforcement said the shooter was 20 years old and got the gun he used from home — just like so many other young shooters who have left bloody trails through this nation’s schools and churches, bars and other community gathering places.
“Time and time again our communities are shaken by acts of gun violence that have invaded what should be our safe places,” said Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of the gun control advocacy organization Moms Demand Action. “But they are a consequence of our country’s weak gun laws and guns everywhere culture — laws that allow hate to be armed with a gun to easily take someone else’s life.”
Amid denouncements of political violence from leaders and average Americans on both sides of the political aisle, the nation’s great gun divide felt newly raw Sunday — but hardly changed. Despite their presidential candidate nearly being shot dead, there were no outward calls from leading Republicans for the party to ease its ardent support of gun rights.
Still, the shooting provided a new and particularly powerful example of yet another American institution — this time the electoral process — falling victim to the vast proliferation of modern firearms. And that could matter as courts across the country and in California continue to weigh when, where and why such weapons may be restricted, if at all.
A person is removed by state police from the stands after a gun was fired at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Butler, Pa., on Saturday.
(Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images)
Like the Vegas shooting, where a gunman killed almost 60 people and injured hundreds of others, the attack Saturday raised questions about how to define such sensitive places, and how to determine whether a certain type of firearm or accessory is so dangerous that it falls outside the protections of the 2nd Amendment, legal experts said.
Such questions hold added weight in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn. vs. Bruen, where the high court said most gun laws are legitimate only if they are rooted in the nation’s history and tradition or are sufficiently analogous to some historic law.
In October, U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez, of San Diego, citing the high court’s Bruen decision, ruled that California’s ban on the sort of AR-style weapon used Saturday was unconstitutional because it was not rooted in history — and because assault-style rifles are sufficiently common and not uniquely dangerous.
“Like the Bowie Knife which was commonly carried by citizens and soldiers in the 1800s,” Benitez wrote at the start of his decision, “ ‘assault weapons’ are dangerous, but useful.”
Of course, assault rifles are far more dangerous than Bowie knives, with a vastly different range for inflicting harm. Federal authorities, for example, said Crooks shot Trump from an “elevated position outside of the rally venue” — which the Washington Post estimated was about 430 feet from where Trump was speaking.
Darrell A.H. Miller, a professor at University of Chicago Law School who studies 2nd Amendment law, said there is a “fairly well established” legal tradition declaring political rallies and other electoral events as sensitive places where guns can be prohibited.
However, Saturday’s shooting raised new questions about the scope of such restrictions and others like it — and about the nature of “sensitive places” and how their boundaries can and should be defined, he and other experts said.
“Sensitive places doctrine, to the extent that it is currently being developed, may need to be attentive to changes in firearm technology over the last 200 years,” Miller said in an interview Sunday.
Legal experts said the shooting could also help gun control advocates argue that such high-powered, long-range weapons are uniquely dangerous, even if they are commonly owned, and that bans on them in California and elsewhere are therefore in line with other longstanding bans on particularly dangerous weapons such as machine guns.
Steve Gordon, a retired LAPD special weapons team officer and sniper, said the shot that struck Trump was not particularly difficult with a little training, despite the distance.
“That type of rifle is standard issue to the police/military and that is not a difficult shot to make with that weapon system,” Gordon told The Times.
Congressional Republicans and the Biden administration have said Saturday’s shooting will be investigated thoroughly, including to determine if anything could have been done differently to prevent it. What may come of those probes is unclear.
Trump’s shooting also could be cited as another data point — a historically monumental one — in support of laws, such as California’s, that bar the sale of such weapons to those under 21, regardless of whether Crooks personally bought the weapon or not.
Gun control advocates could use the added evidence of the unique threat that high-powered, long-range weapons pose in the hands of unstable young men, particularly given the uphill battle they face in defending firearms restrictions post-Bruen.
The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that domestic abusers can be precluded from possessing firearms, but it has ruled against firearms regulations in other instances. Just last month, the high court struck down a federal ban on bump stocks — an accessory that allows gunmen to fire off rounds much more rapidly, and which were used in the Vegas shooting.
Courts aside, Trump’s shooting has already entered the national gun debate in a major way.
For example, when the National Rifle Assn. offered prayers to Trump, law enforcement and others at the rally in a post on the social media platform X, Shannon Watts — a co-founder of Moms Demand Action and the affiliated group Everytown — responded with a bristling retort suggesting hypocrisy on the NRA’s part.
“The NRA’s extremist agenda ensured a 20 year old would-be assassin had access to a weapon of war, rendering even the most highly trained security forces incapable of protecting anyone — from school children to former presidents,” Watts wrote.
She then noted that such weapons have been used in recent years to murder people at a grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y., a nightclub in Orlando, Fla., and schools across the country, from Santa Fe, N.M., to Uvalde, Texas, to Parkland, Fla.
Others made similar connections.
“If you keep talking about the assassination attempt don’t you dare tell the kids who survive school shootings and their families to ‘just get over it,’ ” wrote David Hogg, a survivor of the shooting that killed 17 and wounded others at his Parkland high school in 2018.
Hogg was apparently referring to comments Trump made about the need to “get over” a school shooting in Iowa earlier this year, which were roundly condemned by gun control advocates and survivors.
What happened Saturday was “unacceptable,” Hogg wrote, but so is “what happens every day to kids who aren’t the president and don’t survive.”
Times staff writer Richard Winton contributed to this report.
A blistering heat wave blanketing parts of Southern California is expected to extend through the weekend, pushing temperatures well past 100 degrees in valleys and inland areas while continuing to create dangerous fire conditions across the state.
Temperatures in the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys on Saturday were expected to range from the mid-90s to a high of 105 degrees, while the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys were likely to see highs of up to 115 degrees, officials said.
“We could be approaching or exceeding all time record highs in Lancaster and Palmdale,” said Joe Sirard, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
The broiling heat has shattered records up and down the state this week, with Palm Springs reaching 124 degrees on Friday, breaking the all-time record of 123 degrees set in 2021, 1995 and 1993.
In Death Valley, the mercury soared to 127 degrees Friday — and Saturday it was expected to climb to 128 degrees, the weather service warned.
Extreme heat, low humidity and strong winds prompted officials to issue a red flag warning through the weekend along the 5 Freeway corridor and in the Antelope Valley foothills, Sirard said.
A man plays soccer against a wall in Venice Beach during a warm afternoon.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
“Fires are dangerous anywhere,” he said, “but this is really a heightened danger. [Fires] will spread rapidly, explosively, and it’s extremely dangerous for firefighters.”
Hampered by scorching temperatures, firefighters were continuing to battle numerous wildfires across California on Saturday. The largest is the Basin fire in Fresno County, which started June 26. The fire, which has burned 14,027 acres, was 46% contained early Saturday.
Crews were beginning to get the upper hand on the French fire, which began on the Fourth of July and had threatened the town of Mariposa outside Yosemite National Park. The 908-acre fire, which temporarily triggered mandatory evacuations and closed State Route 140 leading into the park, was 25% contained.
In Southern California, a fire in Santa Barbara County had swelled to 4,673 acres on Saturday morning with zero containment, officials said. The Lake fire, burning near Zaca Lake in the Santa Ynez Valley, triggered an evacuation order early Saturday for an area north of Zaca Lake Road, east of Foxen Canyon Road and south of the Sisquoc River.
Temperatures in the 90s and very low humidity overnight fueled the fire’s spread, while a layer of warm air over the fire had trapped smoke close to the ground, Scott Safechuck, a spokesman for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, said in a post on the social media platform X.
Farther south, the Rancho fire, which was reported Friday evening, burned about 13 acres of brush along the 101 Freeway near Thousand Oaks.
Andy VanSciver, a spokesman for the Ventura County Fire Department, said in a video posted on X that the Rancho fire had been contained as of around 7 p.m. Friday. After stopping its forward progress, firefighters worked overnight to extinguish hot spots, he said.
Charlie Hammond, left, and Pierre Mordacq relax in Venice Beach during a warm afternoon Tuesday.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
In Riverside County, firefighters had managed to get control of the 70-acre Hills fire near Juniper Springs, with 75% containment as of Saturday afternoon.
Authorities had evacuated an area near where the fire broke out Friday afternoon at Juniper Flats Road and Mapes Road in Homeland. People affected by the evacuations were directed to Tahquitz High School in Hemet and the Riverside County Animal Shelter in San Jacinto.
Meanwhile, residents of Los Angeles County’s valleys and inland areas are urged to stay indoors during the day if possible and avoid hiking, even in areas that might seem cool at sea level.
“Even in the Santa Monica mountains, which are close to the coast, once you get above a certain elevation, 1,500 feet, it’s going to get very, very hot,” Sirard said.
Courson Park Pool lifeguard Ellie Gonzales, right, keeps an eye on swimmers as temperatures rose into the triple digits Wednesday in Palmdale.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Sirard said people should follow common-sense practices, like hydrating through the day and wearing lightweight and light-colored clothing. If you want to get some sun, head to the beaches, Sirard said, where temperatures should range from the low 70s to the low 80s.
“If people want to beat the heat this weekend,” he said, “the coast is the place to go.”
The city of Los Angeles has opened four cooling centers through the weekend where people can find relief from the heat:
Lake View Terrace Recreation Center, 11075 Foothill Blvd., Lake View Terrace Mid-Valley Senior Citizen Center, 8825 Kester Ave., Panorama City Fred Roberts Recreation Center, 4700 S. Honduras St., Los Angeles Jim Gilliam Recreation Center, 400 S. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles
Los Angeles County’s network of more than 150 cooling centers, which are located at libraries, parks and community centers, can be found here.
In the Bay Area, cool weather along the coast gave way to blistering heat in northern Sonoma and Napa counties, where temperatures were expected to climb to 110 degrees, said Nicole Sarment, a meteorologist for the weather service in San Francisco.
“There’s as much as a 50-degree variation, depending on where you are,” she said.
San Francisco was forecast to see a high of 79 degrees Saturday before dipping to 58 at night, she said. In Oakland, temperatures were expected to range from 59 to 87 degrees, while San Jose was predicted to see a low of 64 and high of 99.
More than 120,000 pounds of fireworks were seized from an illegal operation in the South Bay area of Los Angeles in one of the biggest single fireworks busts in state history, authorities said.
The fireworks cache was so massive that the Cal Fire bomb unit was called in to assist local police.
Several people were arrested Saturday during an early morning raid, according to a joint statement by the Gardena Police Department and the Office of the State Fire Marshal’s Arson and Bomb Unit. The exact location was not disclosed.
Some of the fireworks measured up to 8 inches in diameter — roughly the same as a bowling ball. More than 2,000 illegal destructive devices and 10 pounds of bulk homemade explosives were also confiscated.
No other information about the seizure was made available, given the pending criminal investigation. Anyone who has information about the case is asked to contact Cal Fire bomb unit at arsonbomb@fire.ca.gov.
With the Fourth of July approaching, Cal Fire is reminding the public that it is illegal to sell, transport or use fireworks that don’t carry the “Safe and Sane” seal. Fireworks also can’t be set off in communities that prohibit them. Depending on the offense, violators of fireworks laws could face up to a year in jail and fines of up to $50,000 if convicted.
Firefighters are battling a series of wildfires that broke out across California over the weekend amid early summer heat and dry, gusty winds.
The National Weather Service warned that winds that carry “the potential for rapid fire spread” were forecast across large swaths of the state Monday morning, including the Antelope Valley and foothills, Santa Barbara County and Northern California’s wine country and Sacramento Valley.
The largest fire in the state Monday morning was the Post fire in Los Angeles County, which has burned 14,625 acres and was 8% contained, Cal Fire said. More than 1,100 firefighters and half a dozen helicopters are battling the flames.
The fire, along the 5 Freeway near Gorman, triggered evacuations for 1,200 people in the Hungry Valley Park and Pyramid Lake areas.
The fire burned an auto repair shop, damaged another building and threatened other structures to the south and west of the I-5, authorities said. Los Angeles County Fire Department crews rapidly responded, making aerial assaults with air tankers and water-dropping helicopters.
The Ventura County Fire Department and U.S. Forest Service were aiding in the effort. At one point Sunday, about 400 firefighters and 70 engines were at the scene, according to Cal Fire.
At the same time, areas from Redding down to Modesto are under a Red Flag warning until Tuesday morning due to a combination of summer heat, gusty winds, low humidity and unusually warm overnight temperatures.
In the North Bay hills, areas hit by some of the state’s worst wildfires in recent memory, including Mt. St. Helena and Lake Berryessa, are under red flag warnings until Monday night.
In Sonoma County, the Point fire has burned more than 1,000 acres and several structures south of Lake Sonoma. It was 15% contained Monday morning, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The fire started Sunday afternoon.
A smaller fire in Lancaster, meanwhile, burned 300 acres and several outbuildings after starting before 4 p.m. Sunday.
In Hesperia, more than 1,100 acres burned, prompting area road closures and an evacuation warning for the nearby Arrowhead Equestrian Estates. The fire began Saturday before 7 p.m.
On Monday morning, a vegetation fire broke out in the Hollywood Hills just south of Runyon Canyon, the Los Angeles Fire Department said. Not far from homes and hidden in a difficult-to-access area, it took firefighters and a water-dropping helicopter more than an hour to put out the flames, despite it burning an only about 400 square feet, the department said in an alert.
A wind-driven wildfire along Interstate 5 near the Grapevine exploded to more than 12,000 acres by early Sunday and had charted a path south toward the town of Castaic, prompting evacuations throughout the area, officials said. The Post fire, which originated Saturday in Gorman in northwestern Los Angeles County, was only 2% contained Sunday afternoon as high winds, low humidity and steep terrain hampered firefighting efforts.
Meanwhile, firefighters were battling another brush fire in the San Bernardino County community of Hesperia that broke out after 6 p.m. Saturday in the 18000 block of North Highway 173. That fire has burned more than 1,300 acres and was 20% contained.
The Post Fire
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
Fire crews battle a hot spot on Orwin road.
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
Fire crews battle a hot spot.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Crews conduct a burn-out operation Sunday near Hungry Valley Road.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Firefighters at work in Gorman.
(Eric Thayer / Associated Press)
Members of the Little Tujunga Hot Shots at work.
(Eric Thayer / Associated Press)
The Post fire advances on structures in Gorman.
As the fire spreads, experts are gauging the severity of this year’s fire season. A wet winter has nurtured a potentially heavy fuel load of thick grasses, which are drying as temperatures rise.
(Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press)
As the fire spreads, experts are gauging the severity of this year’s fire season. A wet winter has nurtured a potentially heavy fuel load of thick grasses, which are drying as temperatures rise.
(Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press)
A smoldering hillside is left behind by the Post fire.
The Lisa Fire
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
CalFire drops water from a helicopter to battle the wind driven Lisa fire from the air in a canyon east of Moreno Valley on Sunday in Beaumont. As of 6:45pm the fire had burned 867 acres.
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Robert Gauthier, Jason Armond, Gina Ferazzi, Times Photography Wire Services
Sometimes you just need a little push to relax, but don’t want to go farther…how much should you take for a little chill to take the edge off.
Friday are the second most favorite day of the week, only behind Saturday. Mondays are the worst with the focus on heading back the 5 day grind. But sometimes the pressure or mindset of work is hard to leave behind. Rather than getting blotto’d on booze or heavily stoned…what can you take to just unwind and let your muscle relax? What is the dosage for a marijuana light chill, but lets you do all the things you want to in a weekend?
Marijuana is available to over 50+% of the population and over 85% of the country believes it should be legal in some form. A healthier option than alcohol, it is gaining traction and cutting into beer sales. One reason is there is more of a chance of control over the time and potency of the high. Give you more options on how to use your time.
Photo by Paul Biris/Getty Images
Like a glass of wine, marijuana in moderation can help with a little bit of a mood reset. Another benefit of a light dose it can put your brain in a more receptive pace. When high, the brain slows down the memory search function allowing you to experience food, music, comedy and more…raising the intensity of the experience.
To take the edge off, start with a 2.5-5 mg and judge if this hits the spot. Vapes and gummies are great ways to manage dosage and keep just a certain level. With vaping, you simply take a hit when to keep you in the same spot, as it fades, you can make a decision. With gummies, you will need to estimate timing as it is absorbed differently in the body and can take from 30-60 minutes to hit.
If you chose a sativa or a mixed strain with slightly more sativa, you will be headed toward more of a cerebral high helping with reducing anxiety and as well as increased focus and concentration. An indica strain produces full-body high, giving a broader relaxing and can also help sleeping. It is never a good idea to mix alcohol with marijuana, it can lead to some messy situations.
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — The risk of severe storms is diminishing but the showers will continue into the overnight.
Saturday started as a First Alert Day with a level 1 risk for severe weather. There was a potential for damaging winds as the main threat.
The rain started in parts of the Triangle and was heavy at times by late afternoon. Rain is expected to continue through the night and a few showers Sunday morning for clearing out.
LOOKING AHEAD
Sunday will be mainly cloudy and cooler after a damp start. Clouds could linger into Monday.
By Tuesday, it’s looking brighter.
The weather really heats up Wednesday and Thursday with temperatures reaching the upper 80s.
Storm chances are a possibility on Friday and Saturday.
Late spring winds whipped through Southern California over the weekend and fanned multiple brush fires while also dashing the hopes of music festival-goers in Redondo Beach.
The forecast for Monday and Tuesday promises to bring more strong gusts in smaller pockets of the region. That includes the Interstate 5 corridor near the Grapevine and parts of Santa Barbara, according to the National Weather Service, with projected gusts reaching 40 mph to 50 mph in the evening.
The Antelope Valley is also expected to receive wind gusts up to 30 or 40 mph around the same time, forecasts show.
A storm system brought cooler temperatures and light rain alongside the formidable wind gusts to the region, starting Saturday. While the winds were nothing to sneeze at, the gusts are common in late spring.
“It was a pretty good wind event, but it wasn’t what I would call record-breaking,” meteorologist David Gomberg with the National Weather Service in Oxnard said.
Gusts reached 68 mph at a weather station in the mountains east of the Cajon Pass, 55 mph in Santa Barbara Island and 53 mph in Montecito Hills north of Santa Barbara over a 24-hour period starting Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.
The widespread winds arrived with the weak storm front that passed through the region, Gomberg said.
The timing was unfortunate for fans of My Morning Jacket and Courtney Barnett, whose performances at the BeachLife Festival in Redondo Beach were canceled along with the rest of the event’s third day due to the “serious wind event that put the general public at risk,” organizers said in a Facebook post. Fans were able to attend shows on Friday and Saturday, where Sting and Incubus were among the performers.
“While we take extraordinary measures to keep our fans, staff and artists safe, and while absolutely none of our engineered structures or systems failed, winds quickly reached very dangerous speeds and we put safety first,” organizers said in their post.
The wind did not discriminate with its ruination.
Strong winds toppled a scaffolding four to five stories tall onto a set of power lines in the 1000 block of North St. Andrews Place in Hollywood on Sunday, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. The scaffolding was erected against a building, but was swept out by the wind around 2 p.m., forcing emergency responders to divert traffic and pedestrians away from area.
There were no reported injuries as firefighters responded to the scene, and no one was on the scaffolding during the incident, according to the fire department.
LAFD firefighters also had to respond to a quarter-acre brush fire fanned by persistent winds in North Hollywood shortly before 3 p.m. near the 170 Freeway at Burbank Boulevard. Firefighters were able to contain and put out the fire within 25 minutes, LAFD said.
Roughly 30 minutes later, firefighters responded to reports of a brush fire in the Sepulveda Basin in the 6100 block of North Woodley Avenue. Dry vegetation burned near an archery range, forcing employees and customers to temporarily leave the area; firefighters put out the blaze in about 70 minutes, LAFD said in a news alert. The flames were fanned by wind gusts of 20 mph to 30 mph, according to the fire department.
Starting Wednesday, Southern California will see a light offshore event that will bring north and northeast winds to Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
The winds will bring “very light and breezy conditions,” Gomberg said. Those winds will be coupled with decreased humidity and warmer temperatures, but thanks to the recent rains, vegetation in the region should not become too much of a fire hazard, he said.
Southern Californians are not the only ones who will be battling headwinds. The National Weather Service in Sacramento cautions drivers that gusty winds are expected to kick up starting Tuesday from Vacaville north to Redding, with a high probability for wind gusts to reach 40 mph.
No matter where drivers are heading during strong wind events, Gomberg said, they should be on the lookout for downed branches, fallen power lines and other wind-blown hazards in their general surroundings.
Seven people were injured, four critically, in a late night shooting in Long Beach on Saturday, police said.
The shooting took place near South Street and Paramount Boulevard around 11:15 Saturday night, according to a bulletin issued by the Long Beach Police Department.
At least two men were suspected of firing into the group, the department said in an update Sunday morning. All the victims were adult men.
Videos of the aftermath posted to social media show a heavy police presence outside the Prendido de Noche nightclub nearby.
“This police department is dedicated and focused on arresting any violent offender utilizing dangerous firearms to victimize our community,” Chief of Police Wally Hebeish said in a statement. “The Long Beach Police Department has been actively investigating this shooting since late last night, and we will continue working until we identify and arrest those involved in this unacceptable act of gun violence.”
The department believes the shooting was “gang related,” but so far, no suspects have been identified and no arrests have been made, police said.
A powerful storm taking aim at California starting Thursday could bring the strongest blizzard of the winter for the Sierra Nevada, potentially dumping 5 to 12 feet of snow at elevations 5,000 feet above sea level.
“Even by Sierra standards, this is shaping up to be a highly impactful, major winter storm,” the National Weather Service office in Reno said. “If these snow totals hold, this will easily be the biggest storm of the season.”
That includes the possibility of 1 to 3 feet of snow for communities along Highway 395 in Mono County, with Mammoth Lakes and June Lakes potentially getting nearly 4 feet of snow. There’s a strong chance of 4 feet of snow along the Sierra crest around the Tahoe Basin, and more than 3 feet in places like South Lake Tahoe, Incline Village and Tahoe City, forecasters said.
Winds on the ridge tops of California’s mightiest mountain range “could easily exceed 120 mph,” and “could lead to blizzard conditions with near-zero visibility at times.”
Forecasters urged people to take advantage of calm weather through Wednesday to prepare ahead of the incoming storm. They warned travel is expected to be nearly impossible from about 4 a.m. Thursday through Sunday morning. “If you attempt to travel, be prepared for whiteout conditions & extended road closures. Bring extra food, water, & warm clothing,” the National Weather Service office in Sacramento posted on social media.
Yosemite Valley could see snow showers on Saturday, the weather service office in Hanford said. “Snow may be heavy at times.”
For Los Angeles County, the storm is expected to bring a slight chance of rain late Friday, becoming likely on Saturday and possibly lasting through Sunday morning.
That storm could bring 0.75 to 1.5 inches of rain to the coast and valleys, and 1 to 3 inches in the mountains. But there’s also the possibly of a more dry scenario, with as little as 0.25 to 0.5 inches of rain in the coast and valleys, and 0.5 to 1 inch of rain in the mountains.
The weekend storm will be a cold one for L.A. County; there could be a dusting of snow in some areas at elevations below 3,000 feet. “This will likely be the coldest air mass we’ve had in some time with frost/freeze concerns possible for sheltered valleys Sunday and possibly a bit more widespread into Monday morning,” the weather service office in Oxnard said.
Rain could return to the San Francisco Bay Area starting late Thursday and continue through Saturday.
“Overall it’s just going to be nasty outside with cold temperatures, gusty wind and periods of moderate rain,” the National Weather Service office in Monterey said. “That being said, the actual impacts look mostly minor with wind gusts in the 25-35 mph range and only a moderate amount of rainfall, spread out over a few days.”
Winds could be a problem in the Sacramento Valley. Forecasters warned of winds gusting from 35 to 55 mph that could trigger power outages, especially from Marysville in Yuba County and northward.
Four Granada Hills residents who died over the weekend in a suspected triple homicide and suicide have been identified by the L.A. County medical examiner.
Just before 7 p.m. Saturday, Los Angeles police responded to a call from a home on Lerdo Avenue, in the foothills of the Santa Susana Mountains, where they found the body of an older man, his wife and two of their adult children.
Police said the family patriarch — identified in medical examiner records as 79-year-old Rodrigo De Leon — killed himself after killing Arabella De Leon, 80; Merceditas De Leon, 49; and Rodrigo De Leon, 53.
The medical examiner listed the septuagenarian’s death as a suicide caused by a gunshot wound to the chest, and the other three deaths as homicides caused by multiple gunshot wounds.
When officers first arrived at the sprawling home on Saturday, they forced their way in and were met by a woman who had survived the gunfire by barricading herself in a room and calling for help. The woman — later identified by CBS News as the couple’s adult daughter with special needs — directed the officers to another part of the house, where they found several bodies, authorities said.
During a briefing for reporters Saturday night, LAPD Capt. Kelly Muniz said that “the only positive point is that you at least have one witness who has survived this incident.”
“I don’t know how much more terrifying and horrific of a scene it could be,” Muniz added.
Neighbors described the family as “quiet” and said they had not caused problems, keeping to themselves. Some said they were surprised to hear of such violence in the affluent community.
“This is a nice neighborhood,” said Richard Asperger, 62. “To think that a triple homicide or a shootout can happen, that’s not what we moved here for.”
It’s not clear when a funeral or vigil might take place, and on Tuesday evening the remaining family did not offer comment to The Times.
A woman has been arrested on suspicion of killing her 4-year-daughter, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and local news reports.
Deputies responded to a call about a child being assaulted in the 4800 block of Civic Center Way in East Los Angeles about 11 p.m. Thursday, authorities said. They found the young girl unresponsive in a vehicle.
The child, who was not identified, was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The mother was detained at the scene and subsequently placed under arrest on suspicion of murder, according to a Sheriff’s Department press release. She was identified as Maria Avalos, 38, authorities told ABC7.
A Los Angeles County medical examiner’s autopsy report released Saturday ruled the child’s death a homicide. The autopsy report listed the cause of death as “combined effects of strangulation and sharp force injury of the wrist.”
The department said the investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.
The first in a series of Pacific storms moved across Southern California on Saturday, bringing rainfall and showers and prompting a high surf advisory along west-facing beaches.
Another weaker system was expected to move through Saturday night and Sunday morning, to be followed by a stronger storm Monday, according to the National Weather Service. The storms will not be as powerful as the systems that drenched Southern California in late December and resulted in huge waves pounding area beaches.
About a quarter-inch of rain was expected Saturday across the Los Angeles region, the weather service said. Some areas in San Luis Obispo County reported more than an inch.
Because the storms originated in warmer parts of the Pacific and not off the Alaskan coast, snow was expected only at the highest elevations in local mountains, according to Mike Wofford, a meteorologist with the weather service in Oxnard.
The weather service is predicting an inch to 2 inches of snow between 6,500 and 7,500 feet and 6 to 12 inches above that altitude. The three storms were expected to drop an inch to 3 inches of rain in coastal areas of Southern California and up to 5 inches in the mountains.
Since Oct. 1, Los Angeles has experienced rainfall levels significantly below normal, said meteorologist Joe Sirard with the weather service’s Oxnard office.
For the period, Sirard said, the climate station in downtown Los Angeles has recorded 3.4 inches, compared with the average of 5.9 inches.
However, so far over the water year, which began July 1, L.A. has received 6.4 inches of rain— above the normal of 6.1 inches, Sirard said. This includes rain from Tropical Storm Hilary that battered areas of Southern California in August.
These figures do not include the rain from Saturday’s storm.
High surf through Sunday was expected along beaches on the Central Coast and in Ventura and Los Angeles counties, with the possibility of minor flooding in some areas during periods of high tides in the early morning, according to the weather service.
Wofford said swells would be far smaller than the waves in late December — some of those as high as 20 feet—which led to flooding and forced officials to shut down beaches and piers in Ventura and Los Angeles counties.
In Northern California, the weather service issued a winter storm warning through Monday for parts of the Sierra Nevada and said that 2 inches to 6 inches of snow could fall above 6,500 feet. Wind gusts up to 30 mph were also possible, forecasters said.
In Southern California, drier weather is expected for much of next week.
Torrential rains over the holiday weekend have left Humboldt County reeling, with several roads flood-damaged and impassable, and more rain is on the way.
“The storm came and hit us hard on Saturday,” said Thomas Mattson, the county public works director. He said his agency had been working round the clock to repair washed-out roads that had left some residents stranded.
In Redwood Valley, off Highway 299, flooding from the Mad River damaged both main access roads Saturday, cutting off residents from outside aid. The 113-mile river flows northwest through the county and the rural unincorporated community. Repairs to the roads were not expected to be completed until late Wednesday.
Eureka’s daily newspaper the Times-Standard reported that at least 30 households were struggling with flooded homes and power outages amid dwindling supplies and no way to access help.
During an eight-hour stretch Saturday, 2 to 5 inches of rain fell throughout Humboldt County, according to Tyler Jewel, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Eureka office. The community of Whitethorn recorded nearly 8 inches of rainfall.
“It’s a very small watershed,” Jewel said. “This last storm just happened to dump a ton of rain there. … It’s really rare for that river to flood.”
Mattson said the county’s public works crews had reopened 15 flooded roads since Saturday but were still dealing with half a dozen that sustained serious damage.
Ryan Derby, emergency services manager with the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, said there had been “county-wide flooding” over the last several days. The agency declared a local state of emergency Tuesday to expedite emergency repairs and state and federal aid.
Derby said flooding from the Mad River affected Tyee City and other agricultural land in that area, along with parts of Mad River Road, or what’s locally known as the “Arcata Bottom.”
Small creeks and streams overflowed into the Blue Lake area, not far from the Blue Lake Rancheria tribal land, about a 10-minute drive from Arcata.
Other flooding stretched from Hoopa in the north down to Shelter Cove in the southwestern tip of the county along the coast.
Some of the affected areas are “sparsely populated,” Derby said, and no evacuation orders were issued, though some residents fled during the rainstorms on Saturday. No deaths or injuries have been reported.
County officials are still assessing how much damage was caused by the rain so far, Derby added, and they will meet Thursday to discuss the situation and this weekend’s expected rain. Derby said the county is referring affected residents to the Red Cross at (800) 733-2767.
Derby said the storms caused damage to county roads and culverts, and with more rain set to arrive Friday, he worries that additional flooding could interfere with recovery efforts.
“It’s not anticipated to be as severe,” he said of the rain forecast. “But there could be compounding factors with the incoming storm that pose additional issues.”
Forecasts indicate 2 to 3 inches of rainfall are expected throughout Humboldt County — though the King mountain range in the southwest could receive up to 5 inches — between Friday and Monday, with the first wave of rainfall arriving Friday morning through Saturday morning and the second from Saturday night until Monday afternoon.
Higher rainfall amounts of 4 to 6 inches were expected throughout Mendocino County south of Humboldt, with both the Russian and Navarro rivers having the potential to flood, Jewel said.
Rain and dangerous high surf are battering Southern California, prompting urgent safety warnings in coastal areas after damaging waves hit earlier this week.
Saturday forecast
Showers begin hitting Southern California early Saturday morning.
The forecast calls for several hours of rain, including a few hours of intense showers, and cooler temperatures.
“We’re expecting significant rainfall for two to three hours on Saturday,” said meteorologist David Sweet of the National Weather Service in Oxnard. “It’s not going to be as strong as the storm system we saw last week; for a few hours it will cause some nuisance flooding. Drivers should be aware of puddling in roadways and give themselves more time or slow down.”
“Our recommendation is not to venture into the water, especially in those areas where the surf is showing heavy activity and large swells,” said Pono Barnes, spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s Lifeguard Division. “It’s not the best day to start your surfing journey or testing your skills in the water if you’re not 100% confident.”
For those near the water, officials said to pay close attention.
“Take caution and heed the direction of local authorities and lifeguards,” the National Weather Service said. “Never ever turn your back to the water as damaging and life-threatening sneaker waves are likely to occur.”
The forecast calls for 15- to 20-foot waves, including sets of up to 25-foot waves, along the Central Coast. Ventura County beaches are expected to receive 10- to 15-foot waves, with 20-foot sets. Santa Barbara County beaches along the South Coast will be hit with 7- to 12-foot waves and in some areas 15- to 20-foot sets along west-facing beaches near Point Conception, according to forecasts.
Dangerous conditions
The NWS said local beaches have an “extreme” risk of flooding and high waves Saturday. Those are the same conditions that hit Ventura County on Thursday, causing damage to homes and leaving some people injured.
The wave that crashed into Ventura County is known as a “sneaker wave,” officials said.
The powerful waves are created by larger than average swells that can suddenly and without warning surge much farther inland than expected, breaking over rocks and lifting logs or driftwood onto the beach with deadly force, according to the National Weather Service. Some sneaker waves can surge more than 150 feet up the beach, catching people off guard, causing them to lose their footing and even sweeping them back into the ocean, according to officials.
Longer-term forecast
Forecasts show a slight chance of rain on New Year’s Eve in the Pasadena area and lingering through New Year’s Day. The forecast shows a 20% to 30% chance for light rain.
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Nathan Solis, Ashley Ahn, Christian Martinez, Karen Garcia
California’s first huge swells of the winter are wreaking havoc on the state’s coastline as an incoming atmospheric river storm is forcing evacuations amid flooding of beach and coastal roads.
Marin County residents in the Calles Pinos, Pradero, Sierra, Onda Resaca, Ribera and Embarcadero areas as well as Calle de Arroyo were ordered to temporarily evacuate Thursday morning due to high risk of wave damage and coastal flooding. Evacuated residents were told to head to the Stinson Beach Community Center.
Santa Cruz County issued an evacuation warning Thursday on X, formerly known as Twitter, for coastal areas near Seacliff State Beach because of flooding.
Within the evacuation area, the tourist hot spot known as the Rio del Mar Esplanade is currently flooded with several inches of storm water. On X, the California Highway Patrol cautions that residents avoid the area and not attempt to drive across or through.
According to the National Weather Service’s coastal flood warning for the Bay Area, large breaking waves are causing significant flooding of beach and coastal roads. The waves are depositing large amounts of debris and causing road closures.
A surfer rides a wave at Surfer’s Point on Thursday in Ventura.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
The San Francisco Bay Area coast could see waves up to 40 feet in some locations. The National Weather Service issued a warning for residents to stay away from rocks, jetties, piers and other waterside infrastructure.
In Southern California, the waves aren’t expected to be as big, but high surf is expected through Saturday, meteorologists said. In Ventura County, waves of up to 12 feet have already been reported, and the Central Coast has seen 18- to 20-foot swells, said Mike Wofford with the National Weather Service’s Oxnard office.
In a beachside community in Ventura, residents watched as waves washed trash bins away, sending foaming streams of seawater into neighborhood streets.
A high surf advisory went into effect at 4 a.m. Thursday for Point Conception in Santa Barbara County and Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and Palos Verdes Peninsula beaches in Los Angeles County, all of which can expect sets of 15- to 20-foot waves and dangerous rip currents.
“We’re expecting the highest waves today to be arriving either late morning or early afternoon and then, maybe some drops in height tomorrow, but still well above normal,” Wofford said.
The waves will pick back up Saturday when another surge of higher swells arrives.
There have been really strong storms over the Pacific Ocean that “we don’t necessarily see because they move up to the north or go in some other direction,” Wofford said.
While the storms are moving through, strong winds can form big waves, which “propagate out along, and the waves just come barreling right in,” he said.
A Harbor Patrol lifeguard jumps a wave near Ventura Pier on Thursday.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
Along with the high surf advisory, the National Weather Service issued a coastal flood advisory through 10 p.m. Saturday.
Although no structural or road damage is expected, there is an increased risk for drowning, the agency warned. Rip currents can pull swimmers and surfers out to sea, and large breaking waves can cause injuries, wash people off beaches or rocks and capsize small boats.
Rain won’t be compounding the waves in the Los Angeles County area, as the forecast doesn’t call for rain until early Saturday and will continue for most of the day until it tapers off, Wofford said.
There’s a 30% to 40% chance of rain Sunday into Monday, but it will be in the form of light showers.
The family of a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy has filed a claim against the Sheriff’s Department, alleging that excessive overtime hours he was forced to work in the county jails drove him to suicide.
Deputy Arturo Atilano Valadez was one of four current and former Sheriff’s Department employees to die by suicide in a 24-hour span early last month. Atilano, who was about to turn 50, was assigned to the North County Correctional Facility at the time of his death.
“When it comes to him, he was working so much overtime, his wife said that he was like a zombie,” said Bradley Gage, an attorney representing Atilano’s widow and two daughters in the claim, which is a precursor to a lawsuit.
Gage said that sometimes, Atilano and other deputies were so exhausted that they took turns sleeping in jail cells. According to the claim, Atilano’s family is seeking $20 million in damages.
A statement provided by the Sheriff’s Department on Saturday did not address the allegations.
“A loss of a department family member is extremely tragic and our continued thoughts are with the family during this difficult time,” the statement said. “The department has not received the official claim, but is deeply committed to ensuring the well-being and safety of all its employees.”
At a news conference last week recounting his first year in office, Sheriff Robert Luna said his agency is in the midst of a “staffing crisis” that has left it short about 1,200 sworn deputies.
“The people who are working here are taking up that slack — they are working their tails off,” he told reporters. “I recognize that, we recognize that, and we have been working very hard behind the scenes to figure out a way to reduce overtime, because that’s how we’re filling in the gaps.”
The Sheriff’s Department on Saturday could not immediately provide information about the number of vacancies of sworn personnel at the jail where Atilano was assigned and overtime requirements for deputies there.
A request by The Times for Atilano’s work history, including his time sheets, overtime hours and assignments, is also pending.
Deputies sometimes volunteer for overtime shifts for extra money. Gage said that in Atilano’s case, those shifts were mandatory.
“It’s illusory to say it’s voluntary,” Gage told The Times. “They’re required to work eight overtime shifts in a month … So if they don’t volunteer, then they get drafted.”
Gage said that Atilano joined the department more than 21 years ago and spent the last dozen working in the jails. Gage said Atilano asked to leave the custody assignment, but his transfer requests were repeatedly denied. He added that forced overtime is a problem department wide, beyond custody facilities.
Gage is also representing the parents of a deputy who was shot in the head while driving his patrol car in September. The family of Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer alleges that he was forced to work so much overtime that he struggled to stay alert.
“They’re so exhausted, working so much overtime, that they can’t function,” Gage said.
A weak atmospheric river is expected to dump as much as 3½ inches of rain in the northernmost parts of California starting Friday, while Sacramento and the lower Bay Area will see light precipitation.
Del Norte County, which is bordered by Oregon and the Pacific Ocean, will likely be the state’s hardest hit area, according to the National Weather Service.
Roughly 1½ to 3½ inches of rain is expected to fall between Friday at 5 a.m. and Saturday at 5 a.m. That’s up from between a half inch and 1¼ inches expected for the previous 24 hours.
“It’s a typical fall season storm system that’s passing through the region,” said Jonathan Garner, a weather service meteorologist based out of Eureka. “It’s not a particularly strong atmospheric river but it may impact complex terrains with periods of moderate to local heavy rainfall.”
The 600-person riverfront town of Gasquet is anticipating 3.43 inches of rain from Friday into Saturday, according to NWS estimates, with Crescent City expected to see 2.72 inches of rain during the same period.
The weather service issued a flash flood watch for the county’s interior, which has been rocked by recent fires, from Friday evening until Saturday afternoon. The agency said there is a chance of debris flows.
The soil in the region was scarred by the Smith River Complex Fire from early October, which burned around 95,000 aces, and the “messy, slick mud” could mix with rock and downed timber in a debris flow, Garner said.
No evacuations were planned as of Thursday afternoon, according to Garner.
A small craft advisory was issued Thursday as winds gusted from 10 to 20 knots along the coast.
The National Weather Service bureau in Sacramento is advising residents to clear leaves and debris from storm drains along with house gutters. They should also check and replace worn wiper blades, while locating packed-away umbrellas and rain gear.
About 3 to 4 inches of rain is expected to fall in Eureka between Thursday and Tuesday, with risks of “ponding” and longer commutes expected in the northern portions of Humboldt County. About 2 to 3 inches of rain is anticipated in Weaverville and Trinity County, along with Blue Canyon and Placer County.
Larger portions of Butte, Mendocino, Plumas, Shasta, Tehama and Yuba counties are expecting between 1 to 2 inches of rain.
There’s a minor risk of pooling of water on the roads in Sacramento, San Francisco and the general Bay Area, with larger threats further north.
The weather service is calling expected rain near the Bay Area “light,” with as much as a half inch anticipated in San Francisco and Half Moon Bay between Saturday and Tuesday. Around a half-inch of rain is predicted in Sacramento while as much as an inch may land in Cloverdale and Sonoma County.
The snow levels in Northern California are anticipated to reach 9,000 to 10,000 feet in the mountains and will drop to 6,000 to 7,000 feet by the start of the new week.
