No offense to anyone here, but for those of us who have actually lived in the Los Angeles area for decades (’53 was my first year) — yes, this is a lot of rain in a short period of time but it is, in fact, pretty typical of our ‘winters.’ Every few years we get torrential rains lasting days or weeks, off and on for several months. It’s cyclical and always has been.
I’ve witnessed far worse than this over the decades — including back when half the L.A. City Schools closed because streets were so flooded no one could drive them. That was before the big storm drains were installed under many streets.
Massive storms of the late sixties were common, and I certainly remember massive rain and flooding of the early eighties. Hail? Yes, on occasion hail can fall just about anywhere here.
The media sensationalizes everything — “Storm Watch!!” flashes on the TV. I often think these newscasters are very young and/or new to the area or they would not get so excited.
Tornadoes? Yes, they have occasionally occurred in flat areas such as the South Bay and Orange County. Uncommon but not unheard of. Flooding and mudslides? Of course — burned out areas suffer every year and the ever-present threat to beach areas like Malibu is an annual event.
I won’t post about this again, but trust me, these storms are not unusual, just not every-year occurrences.
I agree with you.
But, is this the end of an El Nino pattern or some other weather pattern switch?
Looks to be what we’d expect on a good El Nino year....I’m quite thankful we moved to the desert and I don’t have to commute from Brentwood to Newhall anymore.