Various parts of the Santa Clarita Valley received a third to a half-inch of rain over 24 hours, according to the National Weather Service forecast as of 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Meteorologist Carol Smith said the “weak atmospheric river” is part of a warmer Pacific storm system that could bring another 1.25 inches of rain before the precipitation is forecast to end abruptly Friday evening.
The heaviest rains are expected to come after 10 p.m. Thursday into the early-morning hours Friday, she added, with lighter rains also expected to pick up through the night and into Thursday morning.
A measuring point in Del Valle read 0.51 inches of precipitation Wednesday, with 0.36 inches at Castaic Junction and just over a third of an inch in the Newhall Pass.
The SCV has received 0.93 inches total since Jan. 1, according to an observation station at Santa Clarita Central Park, and 1.03 inches since the beginning of the water season, which begins Oct. 1.
Smith said the storm was described as a “beneficial rain,” because it was a more spread-out precipitation versus isolated showers. The rainfall is expected to be heavier at higher altitudes, she added.
It’s particularly helpful in an area that has seen weeks of Red Flag Days caused by extremely windy conditions and single-digit percentages for relative humidity that weather officials described as dangerously low.
The area overall has seen much less rain after a pair of near-historic wet winters.
For comparison, the Central Park weather station recorded more than 2.8 inches of rain over the same 24-hour period last year ending 2:30 p.m. Feb. 5, 2024.
The Central Park station ended up with 15.5 inches of rain for the entire water season that ended Sept. 30, 2024. There was 25.21 inches of rain for the previous season, which helped end several years of drought conditions.
