Rain is in the forecast for Southern California this weekend. Finally, after nearly a month since the last measured rainfall, Southern California is expected to get rain. The last measured rainfall was on Christmas Eve, and rainfall totals only reached 0.02” in Los Angeles. Since May 6th of last year, all-in-all Los Angeles has only received 0.16" of rainfall.

The dry terrain, accompanied by the downward-sloping Santa Ana winds helped multiple new fires start and spread last week, including the Hughes fire in LA County and the Border 2 fire in San Diego County. Fortunately, now they will have some help from Mother Nature. However, if the rain rates are high, it will lead to a mudslide and debris flow threat. Los Angeles County crews are filling and distributing sandbags to help burn scar area residents protect what is left.

Check-in on the ongoing fires in Southern California: Hughes Fire Growing Quickly in LA County

An upper-level low will dig into the Pacific just offshore of Southern California into Sunday morning. This low will pull Pacific moisture into the region and bring increasing precipitation chances by the end of the weekend. The rainfall in Southern California will ramp up overnight and into Sunday morning, continuing through Monday. The good news is most of Southern California will see rainfall. However, this will come with the risk of potentially seeing mudslides. The areas that have been recently burned will not be able to soak up the rainfall quickly.

When it comes to rainfall total expect anywhere from 0.10-0.50" of rainfall, but mountain regions could see up to 3 inches. Areas above 2-4,000 ft will see snowfall. This will bring some relief to the firefighters who have been working day in and day out to combat these fires. Also, it will help to ease the smoke in the air.

Winter alerts have been issued in advance of the snow arriving and sticking around into Tuesday. Some of the higher elevations east of Fresno are looking at snowfall totals near two feet. Big Bear and the San Bernardino Mountains could see 1-2 feet on the peaks!

Make sure to tune into WeatherNation for the latest updates.