Evacuations lifted as Southland dries out

The Southland was drying out Wednesday from a drenching storm that set rainfall records in parts of the area, with forecasters saying some light Santa Ana winds will push temperatures up slightly during daylight hours later this week, but chilly temperatures could still prevail at night.

The National Weather Service issued a freeze warning for the Antelope Valley that will take effect at midnight and continue through 9 a.m. Thursday, with temperatures expected to drop below 27 degrees.

“Dry and slightly warmer weather during the daytime and chilly nights (are) expected for the end of the week as a weak to moderate Santa Ana wind event develops beneath building high pressure aloft,” according to the NWS.

Another trough of cooler weather could slide into the region over the weekend, again pushing temperatures downward while bringing more gusty winds.

Wednesday’s relatively calm conditions were a welcome change from Tuesday, when a powerful storm brought waves of rain across the region and prompted evacuations in Orange and Los Angeles burn areas. But with the storm moving out of the region, evacuations in the Fish Fire burn scar in Duarte were lifted Tuesday night, and evacuations in Silverado, Williams and Modjeska canyons in Orange County were lifted Wednesday morning.

All of those areas appeared to have escaped any major damage, flooding or debris flows from the storm, despite dire warnings from forecasters about potentially life-threatening conditions.

In fact, early Tuesday evening, the NWS issued a flash flood warning that prompted alerts on cell phones across Los Angeles County warning of the threat of possibly damaging flooding. But NWS officials quickly canceled that alert and issued an apology on social media, saying the countywide alert was issued by mistake, with the warning actually intended only intended for the Fish Fire burn area near Duarte.

Tuesday’s storm set rainfall records in several areas of Los Angeles County.

According to the NWS, 3.62 inches of rain fell in Sandberg, shattering the 2002 record for Nov. 8 of 0.43 inches. Los Angeles International Airport received 1.31 inches of rain Tuesday, narrowly besting the 1998 record for the date of 1.3 inches.

Burbank also set a record with 0.98 inches of rain, topping the 1979 record of 0.66, while Lancaster’s 0.51 inches broke the 2002 record of 0.4 and Palmdale’s 0.31 inches topped the 1979 record of 0.22.

“Showers have mostly ended across the area and plenty of sunshine is on tap for today (Wednesday),” according to the NWS. “Despite that, temperatures will remain 10-15 degrees below normal. … Chilly nights on tap the next few nights with some developing northeast winds, strongest early Thursday in the Santa Lucias and Friday morning across the LA/Ventura County valleys and LA mountains.”

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