Will it rain on the Rose Parade? It certainly seems that way.
Will it continue? You bet.
The 137th Rose Parade — an event famously founded to reflect Southern California’s mild weather — will kick off at 8 a.m. Thursday in Pasadena amid a drenching winter storm that could result in the parade’s first rain in two decades.
“There is almost 100 percent [chance] for the wet New Years Parade and the hours of the night before it,” National Weather Service meteorologists wrote in a forecast report Tuesday.
Rose Parade officials – although they’d prefer not to get involved – say they’re ready to be drenched.
“At the Tournament of Roses, we try not to use that name,” said David Eads, the organization’s chief executive in a statement. “History tells us that the sun often rises at the right time.”
Volunteers decorate the Kermit the Frog on the Visit Mississippi “Where Creativity Blooms” float as it makes its way to the Rose Parade.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
In addition to traditional television broadcasters and other web-based streaming services, this year’s parade will be streamed live for the first time on TikTok using the username @rose.parade.
“Through this inaugural TikTok LIVE broadcast, we are thrilled to invite a new generation of Parade fans to experience the magic of the Rose Parade from a fresh, creator-led lens,” said Mark Leavens, president of the Tournament of Roses, in a statement.
If you plan to go in person, bring a poncho. Umbrellas that block the view are not allowed on the parade grandstands and on the route.
Lisa Derderian, spokeswoman for the City of Pasadena, said local officials are expecting more calls about people suffering hypothermia and foot injuries from walking the 5.5-mile route in socks.
Derderian said he expects more dangerous fires, saying “in the past, we’ve seen people throw wood into the washing machine drum.” He said that every year the police drive the route, telling people to turn it off.
Fires must be in professionally produced barbecues at least 25 feet from buildings and other flammable materials, according to parade officials. A fire extinguisher should be readily available.
The parade is expected to last about two hours. The roads along the paradise route, which were closed on Wednesday night, will be reopened at 2 pm on Thursday.
The parade starts at Orange Grove Boulevard, then turns east toward Colorado for the majority of the march before ending at Sierra Madre Boulevard.
Rain is forecast to hit the Los Angeles area between sunset on New Year’s Eve and the morning of New Year’s Day, said Mike Wofford, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. The heaviest rain will fall on New Year’s Day and Saturday, with light showers mid-Friday, forecasters said.
The storms are expected to drop 1 to 3 inches of rain in the valley and coast and 3 to 5 inches in the mountains.
Generally, New Year’s Day is not rainy in the Los Angeles area.
According to the National Weather Service, rain fell on just 10% of all New Year’s days between 1878 and 2025. In 1934, 3.12 inches of rain fell in Pasadena – the most ever for this holiday. That was also the year when more than an inch of rain fell on the first day of the year in Los Angeles.
The Weather Service predicted 1.53 inches Thursday.
The Rose Parade began in 1890 as a promotional event for the Valley Hunt Club, a social organization, to showcase Pasadena’s famous winter weather.
“In New York, people are buried in snow. Here, our flowers are blooming and our oranges are about to bear fruit. Let’s make a festival to tell the world about our paradise,” said Charles F. Holder, one of the founders of this show, at one of the meetings of this club as this show was organized for the first time, according to the report of the Tournament of Roses.
The first “floats” were horse-drawn carriages decorated with flowers.
While there have been plenty of cold, gray-green Rose Parades over the years, it’s been 20 years since the historic event has been rained on.
The 605 All Star Band performs in the 2025 Rose Bowl Parade along Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena, on Jan. 1, 2025.
(Ringo Chiu/Ringo Chiu / For the Times)
The last time it rained was in 2006, and that was the tenth time in the event’s history, The Times reported at the time. Four floats — from the cities of Burbank and Sierra Madre, the Walt Disney Co., and Trader Joe’s — broke down amid wet conditions.
The theme of this year’s show is “The Magic in Teamwork,” and the marshal will be Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Los Angeles Lakers legend and billionaire businessman who co-owns the Dodgers, Sparks and other professional sports arenas.
The parade will take place days before the one-year anniversary of the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires that started amid storm and dry conditions on Jan. 7. 2025.
The Eaton fire burned thousands of homes in Altadena, just a few miles north of Colorado Boulevard, where the bulk of the Rose Parade takes place.
The Tournament of Roses is offering more than 1,000 free tickets to fire victims to watch the show.
