Dry Days, Sunny Skies Forecast by Midweek

Weather forecasters are promising the San Fernando Valley a chance to dry out this week after the recent drenching pushed rainfall levels well into the abnormal range.

“There’ll be some clouds passing through from time to time,” said Mike Wofford, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. “But it should be mostly sunny by Thursday.”

A high-pressure front will finally move into the area today, pushing out the series of storms that struck Southern California this past week. Showers were expected to end by this morning, Wofford said.

As of Sunday morning, 11.89 inches of rain had fallen on Los Angeles since July 1. That is well above the normal amount by this date, 7.20 inches. By this time last year, only 2.45 inches of rain had fallen.

The 5.16 inches of rain that have fallen on Los Angeles so far this month already surpassed normal levels for January, 3.69 inches. Yet that is far below the January record of 14.69 inches set in 1969, according to Curtis Brack, a meteorologist for WeatherData, a forecasting service used by the Times.

As the Valley dries out, it will take a while for temperatures to warm up. Highs in the Valley today will reach the low 60s. By Thursday, temperatures should climb into the 70s. “It’ll be a little cooler than normal,” Wofford said.