Scattered showers continue across Southern California on Sunday, with more rain expected

The wet weather in Southern California isn’t ready to let up yet, with scattered showers this weekend and another bout of rain expected Wednesday.

The region saw steady showers early Sunday, adding to recent rainfall totals. The majority of Los Angeles County got about a quarter of an inch to an inch of rain over the last three days, with foothill communities like Pasadena getting slightly more at 1.34 inches, said Rose Schoenfeld, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

In addition to the light rain, wind gusts could reach up to 35 mph or 40 mph across the region, particularly in coastal areas such as Malibu, Santa Monica or Manhattan Beach, as well as the deserts, she said.

Temperatures will be in the low 60s for L.A. County, though the region is expected to gradually warm up next week. By Friday, temperatures will be balmy, in the low 70s.

Caltrans said the current rain did not affect state highways and freeways in Los Angeles or Ventura counties, though the agency is still monitoring a mudslide in Santa Paula that closed a two-mile stretch of State Route 150 nearly two weeks ago.

Traffic is closed on that route between Mupu Road and Stonegate Road as Caltrans does additional testing on the slide material to determine how deep it is and any additional material that could slide, said Michael Comeaux, Caltrans spokesman. The agency expects to begin removing material from that route by mid-March, he said.

Southern California’s next brush with rain is expected late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, with the chances of rain petering out by Wednesday night, Schoenfeld said.

“With that one, we are expecting pretty low totals,” she said. “This is not some big storm coming up there.”

Meanwhile, the Sierra Nevada is experiencing much more intense weather this weekend with a rare blizzard warning that was extended through Monday morning for the Lake Tahoe area, and until Sunday night for the Mammoth Mountain area. Key roads to Mammoth Mountain from Southern California, and to the northern Tahoe area from Sacramento and Reno, remained shutdown Sunday morning.

Gusts greater than 100 mph were expected on the Sierra ridges through early Monday, according to the weather service. At Donner Pass along Interstate 80, an additional 18 inches of snow could fall through early Monday. Most of the new snow will fall from Highway 50 northward, which includes the Lake Tahoe region. Around Mammoth Lakes, south of the highway, an additional 1 to 4 inches could fall by Monday morning.

There could be a brief gap in new snowfall Monday, but by nightfall and continuing into Tuesday, more snow could fall, mostly concentrated over the Sierra north of Highway 50.

Avalanche warnings remain in place through Sunday night.

Times staff writers Rong-Gong Lin II and Melody Petersen contributed to this report.