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California’s already wet winter is breaking rainfall records, with another powerful storm moving in this weekend along with the threat of new flooding and mudslides.
After a remarkable dry streak in 2024 that helped fuel last January’s firestorms, this winter is making up for it, with some areas already approaching average rain totals for the entire season.
“It’s been an interesting season,” said Mike Wofford, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. “We’re way above normal for precipitation.”
The latest storm will usher in gusty wind, more precipitation and possible flooding in burn scar areas.
The cold front moving into the state from the northwest is expected to reach the Los Angeles area by Saturday and bring rain and high-elevation snow through Sunday. In Los Angeles, the rain is expected to be less punishing than the previous storm that triggered significant flooding, road closures and rescues, but it will be heavier along the Central Coast, Wofford said.
The one bright spot is fire conditions. With L.A. about to mark the first anniversary of the Palisades and Eaton fires, the wet winter offers some protections — at least in the short term.
“The amount of rain that we’ve gotten is likely going to ensure that we’re not going to have any large fires in the next couple of weeks, but beyond that we really can’t say,” said David Acuña, a battalion chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. “If we were to transition into a dry spell, it does not take very long for those green and brown grasses to dry out completely.”
A lot will depend on how much rain falls in the next several months, he added.
The Los Angeles area has already seen higher-than-normal precipitation this rainy season, which began Oct. 1, with storms soaking the region each month with particularly strong systems hitting over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. The final rainy days of 2025 helped pull California almost completely out of drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. And that’s even before the wettest months of the year, traditionally January and February.
The storm system was the first since 2006 to rain on Pasadena’s Rose Parade and ended up being a real doozy — toppling a host of daily rainfall records, several of which were set during that previous storm.
In Oxnard, 1.09 inches of rain fell, breaking the previous New Year’s Day record of 0.83 of an inch set in 2006. In Sanberg, the record of 0.56 of an inch set in 2006 was broken by a whopping 1.25 inches. A record rainfall of 1.32 inches was set at Hollywood Burbank Airport on New Year’s Day, smashing the previous daily record of 0.35 of an inch, also set in 2006.
At Long Beach Airport, a record 1.11 inches of rain fell, breaking the four-decade old record of 0.60 set in 1982. In Lancaster, 0.87 of an inch of rain fell on Thursday, breaking the previous record of 0.24 of an inch set in 2006.
Thursday’s rainfall triggered flooding along the 5 Freeway in the San Fernando Valley, prompting officials to close lanes for several hours. In San Diego, a man and his young daughter were caught in their blue Jeep by fast-moving water and had to be rescued.
In Orange County, the body of a woman was pulled from the Santa Ana River in Fountain Valley on Thursday afternoon. The woman had traveled about two miles in the rushing water before the Orange County Fire Authority’s swift water rescue team arrived. It’s not clear how she ended up in the water.
In Sherman Oaks, hours of heavy rain on Thursday sent mud and debris flowing down a hillside at a residential construction site. No injuries were reported.
The weekend storm is expected to bring 1 to 3 inches of rain to coast and valley areas and 3 to 6 inches to the foothills and mountains. Rainfall rates are projected to range from 0.25 to 0.5 inch per hour, but local rates of up to an inch per hour are likely, especially in foothill and mountain areas in Ventura County and farther north, which could cause flooding and mudslides, the weather service said.
Snow levels will remain above 6,500 feet, although a rain-snow mix could drop down to 6,000 feet, especially Sunday night. Forecasters are predicting 2 to 6 inches of snow above 7,500 feet, with 9 to 12 inches possible on the highest mountain peaks.
After heavy intermittent rain, crews work to clear a mud and debris flow that went into the backyard and down the side of a home in the 3900 block of Pacheco Drive in Sherman Oaks on Thursday. Two people were forced to evacuate. Southern California is heading into the new year with another round of rain and renewed flood risk.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
The weather service has issued wind advisories for higher-elevation areas of the Ventura and Santa Barbara county mountains, interior San Luis Obispo County and the Santa Lucia Mountains. Those advisories are in effect from Friday afternoon through Saturday evening and will probably be expanded into the Central Coast, forecasters said.
The winds could be sufficiently strong enough to topple trees, given that soils are already saturated from previous storms, especially in the Santa Lucia range where gusts are expected to be the strongest.
Los Angeles County Department of Public Health officials have warned the public to stay out of the water at beaches because of a rise in bacteria levels due to the rain. The advisory, which will be in effect until at least 4 p.m. Monday, could be extended if the rain continues.
Forecasters say another, colder storm system is expected to hit the region between Monday and Tuesday. That storm could bring isolated thunderstorms with brief heavy downpours and hail, as well as snow levels down to 5,000 feet, according to the weather service.
The weekend storm is expected to hit Northern California particularly hard with heavy rain bringing the risk of urban and roadway flooding and rising rivers and streams.
On Friday in Corte Madera, an unincorporated town in Marin County, king tides were already resulting in significant flooding. Video posted on social media showed a resident surveying the damage by kayak.
The start of the water year — from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31 — ranks in the top nine wettest for all official climate locations tracked by the weather service. It’s been the wettest ever start to the water year for several places including Oxnard and Santa Barbara.
So far this season, downtown Los Angeles has received 11.64 inches of rain— roughly 82% of its normal rainfall for the entire water year, which runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.
Sanberg, in the mountains of northwest Los Angeles County, has had its wettest start ever to the water year dating back to 1934, having received just over 16 inches of rain through Wednesday. Typically, Sanberg sees 13.14 inches over the course of the entire water year, according to weather service data.
“We’re certainly well ahead of the game,” Wofford said. “It does look like after we get through this last storm cycle we’re looking at several days of dry weather after that, perhaps as many as two weeks. So we could be in for a long dry spell.”
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Hannah Fry, Alex Wigglesworth
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