Rain and snow wind down for Southern California but expected to soon return

Skies were expected to clear up by late Thursday, Dec. 26, and stay that way into the weekend after Southern California was battered with a few inches of rain and up to 2 feet of snow in the mountains.

But meteorologists said rain and snow could show up Monday.

Although the sun was peeking through some skies at around noon Thursday, there was still a chance for some scattered showers and snow in the mountains going into the evening, according to National Weather Service meteorologists.

Heavy rain and snow close Southern California freeways, break record, could linger

Friday and the weekend should stay dry and sunny, but meteorologists predicted another storm could come Monday.

It wasn’t clear yet how much precipitation that system will bring.

Meanwhile, travelers on Thursday were still grappling with the aftermath of heavy rain and snowfall of the storm from Christmas evening into the morning.

“The big stuff’s down and out of the area,” meteorologist Tom Fisher said. “We’ve had about an inch-and-a-half to 3 inches of overall rain and, of course, the snow in the mountains.”

While some light rain and snow, reaching as low as the 2,500-foot elevation could still come Thursday afternoon and evening, Fisher said, winter weather warnings for most of the Los Angeles region was expected to be over by late Thursday night.

For the next few days into Sunday, temperatures for the coast and valleys should stick around the high 40s at night to the mid-50s during the days, he said.

In Orange County, temperatures were expected to be in the low 60s during the days, with San Bernardino and Riverside counties in the high 50s or low 60s, meteorologist Tyler Maio said.

The mountains were expected to remain cold with Big Bear reaching a high of 30 degrees, with Friday slowly starting to warm up, he said, but still not climbing to 40 degrees through the weekend.

“The San Bernardino mountains have already received quite a bit of snow,” Maio said Thursday morning.

“But tonight and early tomorrow (they) could see some wrap-around showers in San Bernardino and into the Inland Empire, with maybe an additional quarter-inch to half-inch of additional precipitation,” he added.

The snow could stick around for a while with the colder temperatures, according to Maio.

Snow should melt for lower elevations, such as the 2,500- to the 3,500-foot range, Maio said.

Although strong winds prompted a short-lived tornado warning in Orange County late Wednesday night, Maio said that winds in the valley and coastal areas should also die down.

Stronger gusts of wind will stick around more in the mountains, but should start to decline over the weekend, he said.