A chance of light rain confronts the Southland this morning, with forecasters saying rainfall could coincide with the morning commute.
The threat of rain is the result of a cold front that brought rain to San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties overnight, then weakened as it headed south, “bringing only a chance of light rain showers to Ventura and Los Angeles counties … potentially impacting the morning rush hour commute,” said a statement on the National Weather website.
The same is expected beginning later today, with a second cold front forecast to bring rain to San Luis and Santa Barbara counties this afternoon and tonight, then later tonight to Ventura and Los Angeles counties, it said.
An expected mass of cold and unstable air will create a slight chance of thunderstorms north of Point Conception, said the statement, adding that any thunderstorm will have the potential to generate heavy downpours and small hail.
The two-day event is expected to produce between a third and two thirds of an inch of rain in San Luis Obispo County, between a tenth and a third of an inch in Santa Barbara County, but less than a tenth of an inch in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, according to the NWS statement.
In the San Gabriel Mountains, the snow level will drop to between 4,000 and 5,000 feet by tonight, with 1 to 2 inches of new snow possible above 5,000 feet, and “there is the possibility of a light snow dusting along Interstate 5 near the Grapevine on Tuesday morning,” it said.
Temperatures will remain on the mild side. The NWS forecast highs of 54 on Mount Wilson; 60 in Saugus, Palmdale and Lancaster; 66 in San Clemente; 67 in Avalon, Pasadena, Woodland Hills, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Yorba Linda, Fullerton, Anaheim, Yorba Linda, Mission Viejo and at LAX; 68 in Irvine, Burbank and San Gabriel; and 69 in Long Beach and downtown L.A. Similar temperatures are expected under partly cloudy skies Tuesday.
