00:00So far, John, during the winter months, it's been Northern California that have gotten
00:05the lion's share of rain with these storms, but this is the first storm where it's going
00:11to be the opposite.
00:12This is easily the wettest storm in Southern California this season.
00:17It sure is, Bernie, and normally, even in a typical year, we'd be talking about that
00:22bringing the risk for flash flooding, but the fact that we've had these devastating
00:27wildfires around the L.A. area means that we have a lot of burn scars, and those are
00:32the areas that are especially susceptible to flash flooding.
00:34Look at the amounts here.
00:36We're talking about a widespread two to four inches of rain across coastal sections of
00:41California, right down into the Los Angeles basin, and then also in the higher elevations
00:46nearby, four to eight inches of rain.
00:49And the bigger thing, even beyond just the amounts of rain, is going to be how fast that
00:54rain is falling.
00:55You've heard us talk about that often, and that rain rate, which could be a half inch
00:59or more per hour, especially in those thunderstorms, is very concerning for the risk for mudslides
01:05and life-threatening flash flooding.
01:07John, oftentimes in California, we talk about rain as short-term pain, long-term gain.
01:13Let's go over the short-term pain first.
01:15Unfortunately, it looks like there could be a lot of that with this setup, especially
01:19you saw on that future radar animation, Bernie, you just showed those yellows and reds.
01:25That's intense areas of rainfall that are going to persist over the same areas, first
01:29from near the Bay Area, but then by later tomorrow into portions of the L.A. area, poorly
01:35timed with the evening commute, with those downpours, and especially where those downpours
01:40persist, that's where those flash flooding risks will be elevated, and landslides, mudslides
01:45and rockslides, all a concern, especially near those significant devastating wildfires
01:51that occurred near Altadena and also Pacific Palisades and surrounding areas.
01:57Places there and downhill from there are going to be especially at risk for more damage.
02:02Now, the long-term gain is going to be the drought.
02:05We have a short-term drought in Southern California, and I'll tell you what, John.
02:08This will be the first month in several months where we're probably going to see above the
02:13historical average rainfall in Los Angeles and perhaps even in the San Diego, so that's
02:19good news.
02:20But in review, John, let's talk about this number that we continue to stress on the damage
02:28that these fires accrued for the economic loss of those fires in Southern California.
02:35It was a staggering loss of $250 to $275 billion from those fast-moving, wind-driven infernos,
02:43and AccuWeather has stressed that this is going to be a long tail of impacts, and so
02:48when you look at the damage that's occurred, it's not only the damage, and some other sources
02:54are just talking about the damage that has occurred.
02:56We're talking about the long tail of medical and health impacts and also all the impacts
03:02to businesses failing, job losses, loss of tourism dollars, and those long-term medical
03:07costs from physical and mental health issues, plus the cost of cleanups, which is going
03:12to be very significant.
03:13And now, Bernie, the concern here is that with this rainfall, the flash flooding concerns
03:18and also we've got a lot of concern over polluted water perhaps running off from these
03:24areas that experienced the burning, so lots of problems here.
03:28And unfortunately, John, this is going to be a problem for the next year or two.
03:31Anytime it rains heavy, those burn scars are going to be susceptible to debris flows and
03:37mudslides.
03:38Sure is.
03:39AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter, John, thanks for helping us break it down
03:43here this morning.
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