Los Angeles's February Was Exceptionally Hot and Dry

Rain may be in the Los Angeles forecast for this weekend, but the last month or so has been so hot that rain skeptics are totally forgiven. February was the second hottest February on record for LA (it was very close to being the number one); temperatures in DTLA hit 80 degrees or more on 11 days last month, says the Daily News. And rain? It was nowhere to be found: Only 21 percent of the average rainfall came to LA in February. Usually, Downtown gets about 3.8 inches; this February only .79 inches fell.

Super hot and super dry weather has been blamed on "a dome of high pressure" that's pushed storms away from SoCal and up north, where it's been at work setting up the snowpack.

But El Niño isn't totally gone yet. In fact, the ocean-warming weather event is getting credit for a weekend storm that's expected to hit the northern part of the state but not quite leave SoCal behind, say our friends at Curbed Ski.

This weekend's forecast calls for a storm that will "wallop the region this weekend, bringing the threat of flooding, mud slides and big surf," says the Daily News, citing an alert from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA predicts that over the weekend "much of Southwest California could receive between one and two inches of rain through Monday."

There are also possible storms in the cards for late next week. Once again, it's too soon to declare El Niño down for the count.

• El Nino leaves much of drought-stricken California in dust [DN]
• El Nino-fueled storm heading for Southern California [DN]
• El Niño is Prepped to Pound California This Weekend [Curbed Ski]
• Dud El Niño is Weakening, But Could Still Go Out With a Bang [Curbed LA]