New Year's Day storm soaks Southern California
Southern California rang in the new year with lots of rain on Thursday morning.
With many communities throughout the region already nearing or surpassing 1 inch of rainfall in the past 24 hours, between .5 and 1 inch of additional rain was expected in the morning and early afternoon hours of Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.
An additional 2 to 2.5 inches were expected for mountain communities, creating flood and mudslide concerns due to already saturated soils, especially around burn scar areas.
Those with plans for New Year's Day could still experience more pleasant weather later in the day. The NWS said there's expected to be a "very noticeable fall off" in rain in the afternoon.
"There still could be some lingering showers but for the most part the event will be over," the NWS said in a bulletin, adding that more rain was expected to be on the way for the weekend.
Flooding concerns
The NWS issued a Flood Watch for mountain and valley communities in Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
Excessive runoff could result in the flooding of rivers and creeks, and lead to flooding in urban areas with poor or blocked drainage systems.
Rose Parade rain
For the first time since 2006, the Rose Parade in Pasadena will be a wet one.
Due to Pasadena's location in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, its rain totals were predicted near 1.5 inches on Thursday, the NWS said. Since the 8 a.m. local start time of the parade is within the peak hours of the rainstorm, attendees should prepare for sometimes heavy rainfall.
Parade goers seemed prepared as they waited Thursday morning, armed with umbrellas, ponchos and rain gear. Leo Martinez of Oceanside had his hooded poncho on and said he arrived at the parade route around 6 a.m.
"We love the rain. My wife and I, we work in the rain. We do some work with plants and stuff like that, and then my son is here with me from college, so we are just making the most of it, enjoying it," he said.
Meanwhile, fans of Alabama, Indiana and college football as a whole should prepare for a rainy Rose Bowl Game. Indiana supporters were in force at the parade, and most were just fine with the rain.
"It is currently, I was just texting my dog-sitter, ice and snow. So even though the rain is not great, I think we would rather take this over the weather in Indiana. It's very cold there right now," Asheley of Indiana said.
With the 1 p.m. Rose Bowl game start time, the rain is expected to back down from peak rates, but the first half of the game will still be a wet affair, perhaps with glimpses of that patented Pasadena sunshine returning after halftime.
From the parade route, Brian of Indiana was not complaining about the rain, just exuding joy as he anticipated a Hoosier win this afternoon. "Well, this is somewhat better than Indiana, at least it's not 40 degrees. It is warm, and we're here for a football game and a parade," he said.
24-Hour rain totals
Rain totals across the previous 24 hours, as of 8 a.m. Thursday, are as follows:
LA County
- Bel Air: 2.19 inches
- Beverly Hills: 2.01 inches
- Downtown LA: 1.6 inches
- Long Beach: 1.30 inches
- Culver City: 1.20 inches
- Santa Monica: 1.61 inches
- Agoura Hills: 1.75 inches
- Burbank: 1.76 inches
- East Pasadena: 1.66 inches
- Claremont: 1.34 inches
- Thousand Oaks: 1.72
- Crystal Lake: 3.9 inches
- Mount Wilson: 2.32 inches
- Lancaster: .57 inches
Orange County
- Brea: 1.69 inches
- Fullerton: 1.3 inches
- Villa Park Dam: .91 inches
- Tustin: 1.23 inches
- Corona Del Mar: .86 inches
- Seal Beach: 1.23 inches
Inland Empire
- Lytle Creek Canyon: 3.58 inches
- San Bernardino: .98 inches
- Riverside: .52 inches
- Prado Dam: .9 inches