Los Angeles Nearly Double Its Typical Season-To-Date Rainfall

A strong series of storm systems has southern California in a rare position, at least in recent years: A rain surplus. Los Angeles, California, through Saturday's record-setting rainfall, is now sitting at over 11 inches of rain since October 1st, the start of the water year for California, according to official observations from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The average for this time period is less than seven inches, at least season-to-date. It's not just Los Angeles, though: San Diego is also running several inches above average in terms of its water-year-to-date stats. A weak-to-moderate El Nino is still being observed in the equatorial portion of the Pacific Ocean, a condition that often triggers a domino effect of worldwide weather conditions, including, typically, extra rain and snow for southern California. After years of record-setting droughts triggered a string of horrendous wildfire seasons across much of California, the extra rain may help with existing drought conditions in the Golden State, though with the obvious threat for continued flooding. A few more showers could add to some of those seasonal rain totals over the next few days, but the heavy rain will most likely let up for a few days, allowing flood-stricken parts of southern California to start to dry up. Stay with WeatherNation for the latest on the active West Coast. For WeatherNation: Meteorologist Chris Bianchi