Dennis RomeroLos Angeles had its driest calendar year on record in 2013, and California's historic drought prompted Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency. President Obama has pledged tens of millions of dollars in federal aid.
See also: Driest Year Ever For L.A.
On top of all that, the relatively warm weather in SoCal recently made us feel like spring had already arrived, at its earliest point in a generation. Wrong.
In a testament to these strange days, the National Weather Service says we can expect more rain this week than we've had in almost three years:
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In fact, some parts of Los Angeles county – the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains – will get as much as a half-foot of precipitation, National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Sukup tells us.
He says a storm scheduled to reach Southern California Friday, with the juiciest rain and snow expected overnight into early Saturday, will bring that heavy weather experience, including:
-Two to four and even six inches of precipitation, including snow above 5,000 feet, in the foothills.
-One to two and possibly even four inches of rain along the coast and in valley areas.
See also: Truth Time: L.A. Weather's Not All It's Cracked Up to Be
We haven't had that much rain in one storm in a year. In fact, Sukup says, the last time the Los Angeles metro area saw more than two inches from a storm, with 2.42 inches, was March 20, 2011.
The last storm with more than an inch was on March 25, 2012, he says.
The event will be preceded by rain Wednesday night and Thursday morning. That baby storm will bring one-quarter to three-quarters of an inch of rain to the area, Sukup says.
Credit: California's drought is illustrated by satellite shots of this year and a wet year, below: Via NASA
Friday's big mama storm will be the product of a low pressure system out of Alaska that will sweep into SoCal, he says. However…
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it will also pick up warm air from the tropical Pacific, and it could bring some ocean waves along with it, Sukup says.
Surfers call that kind of a system a “pineapple express.”
See also: Governor Brown Wants to Give Our Water to Drought-Stricken NorCal?
That makes Friday's weather part of a relatively warm storm, with highs in the 60s and lows only in the 50s.
But if you think this will end the drought, it won't. Not by a long shot.
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