Fast-Moving Storm Heads Toward Orange County

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — A cold, fast-moving storm out of the Gulf of Alaska barreled toward Orange County, poised to hit the coast Thursday afternoon. The storm was expected to settle in Thursday evening, leaving mountain snow and wind in its wake.

The National Weather Service expects this storm to generate between three and five hours of moderate rain, beginning later in the day and lasting into Thursday night. Residents should not expect mud slides or debris flows in burn areas, forecasters said.

Thursday's highs will be unchanged in some communities but several degrees lower in others. Residents can expect about one-quarter inch of rain near the coast starting late in the day, between a half-inch and an inch in the Santa Ana Mountains.

Forecasters expect no problems in the burn areas of Orange and Riverside counties, NWS meteorologist Greg Martin said from his monitoring station in San Diego.

The approaching system is on the "smaller" and "fast-moving" scale. Three to five hours of rain is expected Thursday and Thursday night, likely generating some minor urban flooding, although mud slides and debris flows over slopes denuded by wildfires are not expected.

In the San Gabriel Mountains, four to eight inches of snow will fall above 5,500 feet and between one and four inches between 3,500 and 5,500 feet, said NWS meteorologist Rich Thompson in a telephone interview from his base in Oxnard in Ventura County.

South winds of 40-50 miles per hour and strong cross winds are expected over icy, snow-covered roads in mountain areas, causing blowing snow and sharply limiting visibility, warned the NWS, adding that the roads expected to be affected by challenging conditions include Interstate 5 through the Grapevine, the Antelope Valley (14) Freeway, Pearblossom (138) Highway, and Highway 33 in Ventura County.

"At this point, no problems are anticipated in burn areas," he said early Tuesday morning.
Between a quarter-inch and three quarter of an inch of rain are expected along the L.A. County coast and in the county's valleys, and between three-quarters and an inch-and-a-half in the mountains and foothills, according to the NWS.

The NWS forecast Thursday's highs will dip to the low and high 50s amid rain before rising to the 60s on Friday.