Los Angeles appears to have turned into Seattle this week.

Yesterday's storm, the second in a series that started overnight Sunday with sparse sprinkles, brought us an inch and a half of rain in some areas, and we're just getting started. 

The National Weather Service says storm number three will likely strike this morning. It could last into Thursday and possibly even be “lingering into Friday,” said NWS meteorologist Emily Thornton.

It could mimic yesterday's rainfall totals, with two inches possible in the basin, she said. Private forecaster AccuWeather calls it “the biggest storm of the series.”

But wait, there's more:

Storm number four could hit Southern California on Saturday. But, so far, forecasters don't expect much rain. It will be like Sunday night's event, which didn't even bring anything to many areas of greater Los Angeles.

“At this point we're going to say it's a weaker event with not as much rain,” Thornton said. “We do expect some measurable rainfall Saturday into Sunday.”

When will it stop?

“There will be a break in the action Friday afternoon,” she said. Monday could see yet another storm (the fifth), but that's not a sure thing yet, Thornton said.

“A strong El Niño has allowed a subtropical jet stream to drop further south” and drive storms into our region, she said. “Over the next three month period we see a pretty good chance of having above average rainfall. We could continue to see frequent storms moving through until El Niño goes back to neutral in spring.”