Showers, cool temperatures linger in Southern California, but a warmup is on the way

Showers and cooler temperatures continue to linger across Southern California, but officials say a period of warm, dry weather is just around the corner.

“If you’re sick of the cold weather, you’ll like this week,” said Ryan Kittell, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Oxnard. “This week will definitely be transitioning.”

A high-pressure system is building across the region, and by Wednesday and Thursday any chance of rain will be in the rearview mirror, Kittell said. Temperatures also will dramatically climb.

“By the end of the week, we’re actually looking at highs in the mid-80s to early 90s,” he said. “Thursday through Sunday, it looks warm.”

Those highs are expected to be 5 to 10 degrees above average for this time of year, a flip from the start of the week, when highs are forecast to be several degrees below average.

In Los Angeles County, highs Monday and Tuesday are expected to be in the mid-60s to low 70s, Kittell said. On-and-off showers remain possible after the wet and cold weekend, which brought significant rainfall and some snow across the Southland.

Rainfall amounts were highest in the Inland Empire, where up to 2 inches of rain fell in the foothills and valleys, according to the National Weather Service. Cal State San Bernardino recorded 1.57 inches, Yucaipa saw a little more than an inch and Riverside Airport got almost half an inch.

San Diego and Orange counties’ valleys saw a quarter-inch to three-quarters of an inch of rain. Amounts in most of L.A. County were less than half an inch, with Lancaster and Sandberg recording about a tenth of an inch Sunday, weather service data show.

In the mountains, rainfall amounts were slightly higher, and some of the region’s highest peaks saw the precipitation turn to snow. The highest elevations in San Bernardino and Riverside counties’ mountains saw about an inch of snow, including on Mt. San Jacinto and in the highest points of Big Bear.

Any further rainfall Monday and Tuesday is going to be relatively minimal.

“We still have a little bit of rain out there now, so those totals could go up a bit,” Kittell said, but it won’t be by much.

“Everything’s pretty light as far as what we’re seeing,” Kittell said of the rain, expecting nothing more than a quarter of an inch.