Rain Los Angeles

Stormy weather had unloaded on homeowner Efren Meza before the roofers could finish their work. So on Wednesday, the workers were struggling to wrap his house in plastic before Meza rained wrath all over them. But the same winds that were blowing a new storm toward the South-Central Los Angeles neighborhood were causing the huge blue tarps to billow wildly as the crew tried to nail them to Meza's bare plywood roof. Fortunately, from his front yard, Meza was proving unflappable.

The National Weather Service recorded 8.06 inches of precipitation for the calendar year 1999 at its downtown Los Angeles station. However, since July 1, the official start date of the rainfall season, only 0.84 of an inch of rain has been reported for Los Angeles. The Weather Service moved its Civic Center gauge to the USC campus on July 1. * Note: These figures are for the calendar year, Jan. 1 through Dec.

After Tuesday morning's rainfall, the county Health Department advised beachgoers to stay out of the ocean for 72 hours. "The rain advisory is put out any time there's significant rainfall in the area," said Richard Kebabjian, chief of recreational health programs at the health department. "Increased runoff from streets and streams flows into the ocean and typically raises the bacteria count in the water." The advisory is in effect until 4 p.m. Friday.

It's no El Nino, but Saturday's heavy rains added to a wetter-than-average February across the Los Angeles region, forecasters said. The Pacific storm is expected to drop up to 2 inches of rain by Monday night, though only two-tenths of an inch had been recorded in downtown Los Angeles by Saturday night. Nearly half an inch fell in Chatsworth, said Bruce Rockwell, a forecaster with the National Weather Service.

A Pacific storm that rolled into the Southland on Sunday afternoon--packing high winds in the mountain passes and rain throughout the Los Angeles Basin--is a precursor to an even stronger storm expected to hit Tuesday, forecasters said. About half an inch of rain is expected to fall through today, according to Weather Central Inc. which provides forecasting services for The Times. The California Highway Patrol closed the Golden State Freeway in the Grapevine area just before 3 p.m.

A series of Pacific storms is expected to keep marching through Southern California for the next week or more, bringing substantial rain to the coastal valleys and a thick blanket of snow to the mountains. "They just keep coming, one right after the other," said Stacey Johnstone, a meteorologist with WeatherData, Inc. "It took a long time for the rainy season to start, but it's here now, and it looks like it isn't going to be over soon."

Flash-flood watches, a winter storm warning and a heavy surf advisory were issued Tuesday as another cold and blustery Pacific storm bore down on Southern California. Forecasters said as much as two inches of rain could fall in the Los Angeles Basin today and as much as a foot of snow was expected at mountain resort levels before the storm tapers off early Thursday. Still more storms are on the way through the weekend.

Parched Southern California benefited from a much-needed rainstorm Thursday, and forecasters said another storm should douse the area this weekend. About an inch of rain fell in the foothills, and almost half an inch in downtown Los Angeles. Gary Ryan, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said the storm was caused by a "Pacific cold front that developed overnight and moved inland rapidly. It took us a bit by surprise."

The storm system that brought up to 2 inches of rain to the San Fernando Valley over the weekend may have moved out of the area, but another system is on the way and will hit Southern California by this afternoon, weather forecasters said. Scattered rain in the morning will give way to thundershowers in the afternoon and wind gusts of up to 25 mph, said Wes Etheredge, a meteorologist for WeatherData Inc., which provides forecast information for The Times.

A warm Pacific storm is expected to drop rain showers on Southern California on Sunday, but probably not enough to put a serious dent in what is still shaping up as one of the area's driest winters. Josh Bemus, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., said up to half an inch of rain is expected in the Los Angeles Basin, with perhaps twice that much in the foothills.