Rainstorm and fierce winds strike California. Here's what's in store
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A storm is hitting California late in the wet season, bringing rain to the north and snow to the Sierra Nevada, with Los Angeles expected to receive light rain in time for the Tuesday afternoon commute.Strong winds could make driving difficult, especially for high-profile vehicles such as big rigs.Fierce gusts of up to 65 mph are possible on the desert slopes of the San Bernardino Mountains.
In Death Valley and the San Gorgonio Pass, which connects the Inland Empire to the Coachella Valley, gusts could hit 60 mph, rev up to 50 mph over the San Gabriel Mountains and Antelope Valley and rise to 40 mph elsewhere in the region.The rainstorm is expected to bring one-tenth to one-third of an inch of rain in Los Angeles and Ventura counties and peak between 11 a.m.
and 8 p.m.Tuesday, the National Weather Service office in Oxnard said.
Rain was expected to arrive earlier in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, bringing half an inch to an inch of rain, especially between 6 a.m.and 6 p.m.
Tuesday.There’s a 20% to 42% chance of rain falling in Orange County, the Inland Empire and coastal San Diego County on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.
Getting a storm in mid-to-late April might seem unusual for California, but it has happened before.In 2024, a storm arrived in mid-April, according to NWS meteorologist Lisa Phillips, and in a storm in late April 2025, downtown Los Angeles got 0.22 inches of rain.
Climate & Environment An extremely warm March melted most of the snow in California’s Sierra Nevada.The early melt fits a long-term pattern as greenhouse gases push temperatures higher.So far this month, downtown L.A.
has recorded 0.38 inches of rain; the average for the first 20 days of the month is 0.55 inches.“It’s definitely coming to the end of our rainy period,” Phillips said.
Precipitation was expected to be more extensive farther north.Wide swaths of Nor...