Light rain, winds forecast this weekend in L.A. County

Light rain and windy conditions are expected in and around Los Angeles County this weekend, but precipitation is expected to ease by Monday, forecasters said.

Intermittent showers are expected from Saturday night through Sunday morning, according to Joe Sirard, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

“Actually, it doesn’t look like much rain,” he said, noting that he wasn’t expecting more than a few hundredths of an inch to a tenth of an inch of rain this weekend. “Pretty benign for LA County: some clouds, some showers later tonight, tomorrow morning.”

But this weekend’s rainfall is expected to be “a fairly weak system… a far cry from what we had in January,” he added. It is the only rain currently forecast for this week.

Temperatures are expected to remain in the mid-60s to low 70s through the weekend, according to the weather service. In low-lying areas, wind gusts of 20 to 40 miles per hour are forecast for Saturday night and Sunday.

So far this winter season, LA County has recorded a good amount of rainfall. Since Oct. 1, downtown LA has had 13.76 inches of rain, up from 10.36 inches for the same period a year ago, Sirard said.

Mountains over 6,000 feet could fall as much as an inch of snow, and wind gusts “almost to advisory levels” could be seen in mountainous areas on Sunday.

Temperatures are likely to rise across the region in the coming week, Sirard said.

“It looks like temperatures could be closer to normal this week or maybe a little higher than normal,” he said. “Looks like 60’s Monday, lower to mid 70’s Tuesday and Wednesday and mid 70’s Thursday and Friday.”