This wasn’t just a wet Christmas, it was the wettest Christmas in Southern California.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were the wettest in modern Southern California history, according to the National Weather Service’s Oxnard office. And more rain is on the way. A flood watch is forecast to remain in effect for much of the region at least Friday afternoon, with rain expected throughout the day. The skies should clear by the weekend.
This is also one of the wettest starts to the water year, which began on October 1. By midday Christmas it was ranked as the 10 wettest place in Southern California – a stark contrast to last year, when a record dry start to the water year preceded the devastating wildfires in Altadena and Pacific Palisades.
Last year was incredibly dry and hot. The summer and fall of 2024 were some of the hottest months on the California coast since at least 1895.
All over the world people are seeing a dramatic shift between dry-to-wet and dry weather whiplash. Scientists say that some such episodes of “hydroclimate whiplash” are expected worldwide due to human-caused global warming.
A flood watch was expected to be in effect for much of California through at least Friday afternoon.
(National Weather Service)
Between Wednesday and noon Thursday, the Santa Barbara Airport received 4.83 inches of rain, beating the December 24-25 record that was last set in 1955, when 3.22 inches fell. Rain forced the Santa Barbara airport to close twice on Christmas Day – in the early morning and again in the afternoon. Airports can be flooded by heavy rain, forcing commercial flights to be grounded.
Woodland Hills received 4.62 inches of rain, beating the record of 3.34 inches set in 1971; Oxnard, 4.26 inches, breaking the record of 2 inches in 1979; Van Nuys, 4.12 inches, beating the record of 1.16 inches set in 2019; Burbank, 3.5 inches, beating the record 3.1 inches in 1971; Camarillo, 3.36 inches, breaking the record by 2 inches in 1979; and UCLA, 3.05 inches, beating the record of 3.02 inches set in 1971.
Downtown LA has so far recorded 2.59 inches since Christmas Eve, the fourth wettest period on record. The record of Dec. 24 and 25 is 3.82 inches in 1889.
The last day before Christmas Eve was the wettest back in 1971, when 3.24 inches fell over a two-day period.
“There is a good chance that the amount of rain will increase until midnight tonight and possibly change the level,” the weather service said Thursday afternoon.
Total rainfall was highest in the mountains. In the 48-hour period ending at 9 a.m. Thursday, nearly 12 inches of rain fell on Ortega Hill in Ventura County. And more than 10 inches of rain fell in parts of the San Gabriel Mountains in Los Angeles County.
One last shower was expected to move through the Central Coast starting Thursday evening and move out of LA County on Friday, with showers tapering off late in the evening. Los Angeles County could see 1 to 1.5 inches of rain along the coast and valleys — possibly more in some areas — and about 4 inches in the mountains.
“The threat of flooding will increase … Friday due to widespread flooding. Any rain that is there will turn quickly,” the weather office in Oxnard said.
Evacuation orders remain in place for many homes in the Riverwood area of Sunland. A neighborhood may be at risk due to the partial release of water from Tujunga Dam by the LA County Department of Public Works, city officials said, aimed at preventing possible flooding in the surrounding area. “This is a regular program that has been done in the past,” officials said.
Evacuation warnings are in place for the latest burn scars in LA County, with evacuation orders issued for some homes at high risk of mudslides.
Moderate rain is expected in the San Bernardino Mountains through Friday morning, moving eastward, “which may be heavy at times in the mountains,” the San Diego weather service office said.
Rainfall rates are expected to be about half an inch per hour, and “of particular concern are oversaturated parts of the San Bernardino Mountains and nearby watersheds spread across the Inland Empire and High Desert regions,” the weather service said. An additional 1 to 3 inches of rain is expected in the San Bernardino Mountains.
2 to 3 inches of snow is possible at elevations of 7,000 feet in the San Bernardino Mountains, with 8 to 12 inches near the mountain peaks.
Elsewhere in Orange County, San Diego County and parts of the Inland, light showers will continue through Friday evening, tapering off Saturday morning, the San Diego office said.
About 1 to 1.5 inches of additional rain is expected in Orange County and parts of the Interior near the San Bernardino Mountains. About 0.25 to 0.75 inches of rain is expected along the San Diego County coast and valleys and throughout the Midwest.
The weather is expected to be very dry across California early next week. But there is a chance for a moderate to strong Santa Ana wind event in Southern California early next week.
It’s also possible that rain could return to Southern California around New Year’s Day, but for now the storm appears to be “a more severe event” than the Christmas Eve hurricane, the San Diego office said.
The Christmas holiday storms wreaked havoc across California, and led to at least three storm-related deaths – a motorist who drove into floodwaters in Redding; a woman who was knocked off a rock by a tidal wave in Mendocino County; and a man was hit by a falling tree in San Diego.
Two people were killed in a three-vehicle crash on the Grapevine section of the 5 Freeway Thursday around 3 p.m. Authorities have not yet said what caused the crash.
Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Shasta counties, allowing state agencies to mobilize quickly and authorizing Caltrans to seek federal assistance to repair damaged roads.
Damage was reported across the region, with flooding, landslides and downed trees also reported in the Central Valley and San Francisco Bay Area. Tornado warnings were briefly issued for the San Gabriel Valley on Wednesday and parts of San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties on Thursday.
Misty Cheng looks at the flood damage at her home in Wrightwood on Thursday.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
Among the hardest hit areas was Wrightwood, a town of a few thousand people in the San Gabriel Mountains on the border between Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. The pre-Christmas debris flow – a fast-moving flow of mud and rock – swept into homes and left cars buried in debris.
There was damage to many properties, and a number of swiftwater rescues, with nearly 10 inches of rain recorded in the area in a 24-hour period, the weather service said.
People in Lytle Creek, another mountain community in the San Gabriel Mountains, were stranded after a bridge connecting parts of the town was flooded and possibly destroyed. Lytle Creek remains under an evacuation warning Thursday, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said.
Escape warnings were in place for Wrightwood and Lytle Creek.
A woman was rescued after being swept away in San Jose Creek in the San Gabriel Valley – near Fullerton Road off the 60 Freeway, in the area around Lemboni City. He was rescued at the Workman Mill Road crossing near the unincorporated community of North Whittier, near the intersection of the 605 and 60 freeways.
Major freeways were closed for hours due to the effects of the storm, including Interstate 15 over Cajon Pass and Interstate 5 in Sun Valley.
Los Angeles firefighters deployed crews to three river rescue incidents; another involved rescuing a man, his dog and his cat who were in a recreational vehicle on an island in the middle of a stream, and trapped by rising water. All three boarded the helicopter.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said it responded to several vehicles that were stranded due to flooding across the Antelope Valley.
Times staff writers Terry Castleman, Noah Goldberg and Amy Hubbard contributed to this report.
