Alas, You Can’t Dump the Rain on Valentine’s Day

BUENA PARK —  For rain-weary Orange County residents, a stormy Valentine’s Day today will not be the object of much affection.

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Meteorologists for WeatherData, which provides forecasts for The Times, say most parts of the county can expect to see one-quarter to three-quarters of an inch of rainfall by noon today, with some areas seeing as much as an inch.

Up to two inches of rain could fall in mountain areas, forecasters said.

Curtis Brack, a meteorologist for WeatherData, said the rain could cause some minor street flooding, as well as problems in fire-scarred areas.

But he said today’s storms are not comparable to last month’s rains that battered much of the county.

“It isn’t looking as strong as either of those two big ones, and it probably won’t last as long,” Brack said.

Harry Woolford, also a meteorologist for WeatherData, said the sky probably will begin clearing in the afternoon as the cold front carrying the storm moves out of Southern California.

“There’s quite an area of moisture sitting off the coast,” Woolford said. “It looks pretty certain that (county residents) are going to get a shot of rain.”

Temperatures dipped into the high 50s and low 60s Monday, with about a tenth of an inch of rain reported countywide.

While temperatures again should just get into the 60s today, Woolford said the highs should return to the 70s before the weekend.

Florists around the county Monday said they expect to make deliveries on time today, their busiest day of the year, despite the rain. But Carmen Fober, owner of Love n’ Bloom, a Huntington Beach flower shop, said she just wished customers didn’t all want to have them delivered in the evening.

“Sometimes we try to convince someone that it’s better to get (the flowers) there early so the person can enjoy them all day,” Fober said. “It doesn’t always work.”