Parts of Southern California experienced record high temperatures this week. This reporter might have even gotten a sunburn. With water temperatures in the low- to mid-60s, you could surf in a spring suit and do just fine. This is ridiculous. It's freakin' December, people.

Thankfully, Mother Nature heard our pleas for more winterlike weather and responded with a cold front.

Of course, cold for Los Angeles is like bikini weather in the Midwest, but we'll take what we can get.

The National Weather Service says a cold front from the north moved in overnight, sending temps from near 80 in some places to the 60s. Not only that, but starting tonight we'll see a 40 percent chance of rain, said NWS weather specialist Stuart Seto.

Yeah, this is what SoCal citizens call sweater weather.

Interestingly, Seto said, an El Niño–charged jet stream put this same cold front into the Pacific Northwest. As it moves south, however, it's not an El Niño phenomenon, he said: It's a typical winter-pattern cold front from the north.

The jet stream isn't aiming for Los Angeles just yet. We'll probably have to wait until January to find out if the El Niño hype is true.

In the meantime, the Los Angeles Basin could see a quarter-inch of rain from this storm, Seto said. Snow levels in SoCal mountains will hit 5,500 feet and higher, he said.

Rain chances will continue through Friday, and we could even see thunderstorms, Seto said. A 20 percent chance of rain will return Monday, he said, giving us a dry but cool weekend.

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Winds in the mountains and in the Santa Clarita Valley will race at 20 miles per hour and greater as we head toward the weekend, Seto said.
 
Yesterday, he said, was “the last warm day we'll see for a while.”

High temps in the L.A. Basin will be in the mid-60s before dropping a few degrees lower next week, Seto said. Lows will remain relatively warm — in the mid-50s — until the weekend, when they'll drop closer to 50 and then dip into the high 40s later next week, he said.

Bundle up. Or, if you're from the Midwest, have an outdoor party.

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