The reprieve from rain is expected to last just a few more days as forecasters warn of another storm system that could bring Los Angeles its first rainy Halloween since 2014.
It’s still too far out to know the exact timing and location of precipitation, but “it looks like it will be a wet Halloween holiday weekend,” said Rich Thompson, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Oxnard.
Forecasters said there’s currently a 90% chance of rain sometime between Friday and Nov. 2 — including Halloween night — with a high probability of steady to heavy rainfall, according to the weather service’s forecast discussion.
“Halloween activities are likely to be impacted,” the forecast discussion said. “At this point, the most likely outcome is for a moderate-level storm in terms of strength and impacts, with a low but present risk for a higher level storm.”
“It’s the first [Halloween] in a while that could actually be wet,” Thompson said. The last recorded rainfall on Halloween in L.A. occurred in 2014, when a quarter inch of precipitation fell on downtown Los Angeles, according to weather service records.
Before 2014, Halloween hadn’t seen precipitation since 2003 — when about half an inch of rain was recorded — and before that it hadn’t rained on the holiday since 1987, when 1.39 inches fell, according to the weather service.
Until Friday, though, weather across Southern California will likely be benign, though extremely high tides could bring a different kind of water hazard.
Much of the California coastline is under coastal flood advisories beginning Sunday, with minor to moderate flooding expected due to “historically high tides,” Thompson said.
In Southern California, the highest tides are projected Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, when water levels will be several feet above normal high tides — likely to affect areas already battered by high waters and strong waves during recent storms, including major issues on the Long Beach Peninsula, severe erosion that has endangered a key coastal railway and structural damage to dozens of homes and piers in Orange County.
Water levels in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties could reach 7.5 to 8 feet, or even higher, above baseline, which is defined as the average low-water level observed between 1983 and 2001.
The most significant effects are expected along Orange and San Diego counties’ coastlines this week, where the high tides are forecast to cause localized flooding, more coastal erosion and other hazards. A coastal flood warning is in effect from Sunday through Thursday, warning that “numerous roads may be closed; low lying property, including homes, businesses and some critical infrastructure, will be inundated; some shoreline erosion will occur in the morning hours.”
“Coastal residents in the warned area should be alert for rising water and take appropriate action to protect life and property,” the alert said.
Times staff writer Rong-Gong Lin II contributed to this report.
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