New Storms Expected This Week

Southern California's "drippy December" continued Sunday, and a pair of new storms is lined up to hit the area this week.

Light rain fell Sunday and expected to intensify somewhat Monday, National Weather Service forecasters said. Snow fell above the 5,500 foot elevation, but could drop to 3,500 feet above sea level Sunday.

But snow accumulations were expected to be so light that the NWS did not expect more than a dusting of snow along the Grapevine or other major freeway passes.     

Angeles Forest Highway's summit between Palmdale and Mt. Wilson tops out at almost 5,000 feet, but it was cleared of snow from Friday and reopened to short-cut traffic between Palmdale and La Crescenta Sunday.

Only small amounts of rain fell in the past week in Los Angeles County, as a series of small storms passed over the area. Seven-day totals included 1.76 inches at a station east of Mt. Wilson, .67 inches in the mountains above Malibu, .43 inches near Newhall Pass, and .16 inches at USC.

Much of that rain fell Sunday. The rainfall intensity was too low to trigger any warnings of debris or mudflows in burned areas of local mountains. Forecasters expected dense fog in mountains, turning to rain and coastal fog in lower areas. 

A system poised to arrive Tuesday will be colder and wetter than the past four storms, with most of the area likely to get between .10 and .25 inch of rain.

And another weak weather system is likely to arrive Friday, the NWS said.