Major rain storm arriving in LA

The season’s biggest storm is barreling into Southern California today, and it looks poised to ruin LA’s evening commute.

The National Weather Service had predicted the storm would be the biggest of the season. “This is the big one,” National Weather Service meteorologist Eric Boldt said Sunday.

It might seem like a major storm hasn’t materialized, but be patient.

“It’s been delayed,” says Weather Service meteorologist Stuart Seto. “It’s still coming.”

Seto says rains are picking up now and will fall heavily into the evening, with rates of as much as half an inch per hour. The latest forecast anticipates the peak downpours from 3 to 8 p.m.

Though the heaviest of the rain is still to come, projected rainfall totals in the LA area have decreased a little bit overall.

Evacuations orders have been lifted for Kagel Canyon, Lopez Canyon, and Little Tujunga, as well as the parts of Sunland, Sunland, and Tujunga—communities that were ravaged by the Creek Fire.

Because of some reported debris flow in areas hit hard by the La Tuna Canyon fire, mandatory evacuations are still in place for the 8300 block to 9000 block of La Tuna Canyon Road.

The weather service says there’s a high risk of excessive rainfall in western Los Angeles County today, with rain dissipating Friday. The latest forecast calls for one to two inches of rain across LA County’s coasts and valleys, and three to five inches of rain in the foothills and mountains, Seto says.

Even two inches of rain would be significant. According to the weather service, Downtown Los Angeles has seen just 3.4 inches of rain since October 1, the start of the wet season. That’s roughly a quarter of the 12.6 normal rainfall total.