Storm makes it easier to avoid coronavirus by staying inside

A storm that brought wet weather across Southern California swept out of the region late Monday, with several days of dry and cool conditions expected before showers return.

The late-weekend storm dropped three-fourths of an inch to coastal Orange County to an inch or more in the Inland Empire and portions of Los Angeles County.

Adam Roser, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, described the storm that tapered off Monday as “kind of a beneficial rain event” that brought needed moisture.

“It’s definitely a lighter storm system,” Roser said. “It’s good, because there were not many impacts and not a lot of flooding.”

The next storm is expected to arrive late Wednesday and last through Thursday, forecasters said, bringing chillier weather and a similar amount of rain.

“We are still expecting the continuation of this cool, damp pattern,” said Kristen Stewart, another meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Snow could fall in the higher elevations, with a couple of inches possible in the Grapevine on Thursday, forecasters said. After a relatively dry January and February, March’s rainfall is expected to be about average for this time of year.

For some Southern California residents already staying home to avoid the coronavirus, the latest storm made it easier.

If all was well, David Alpern would have been outside watching his son, a varsity baseball player at Long Beach Poly High School, in action. But weather would have canceled those games, anyway.

“The rain made it easier, thinking, ‘Hey, it’s rainy weather, so we probably would have been indoors,’ ” Alpern said.

Alpern’s neighbors aren’t complaining about the rain, either.

“We are fortunate that we are here in Southern California, where the weather is comfortable,” Alpern said. “It would be tougher if this was August or September.”

Riverside’s Bernie Berndt agreed – he would have been home as well.

“It was raining pretty heavy this morning, so I wouldn’t be out in that,” he said. “The rain did make it easier, but I’m staying inside anyway.

“I’m a senior, and I don’t want to catch this thing, so we are doing the social distancing and binge-watching television.”

The rain wouldn’t have stopped Dolly Rhamy of Torrance from going outside – but the coronavirus did.

A volunteer with Zazzy Cats Kitty Rescue in Long Beach, Rhamy has focused on a baby kitten she is fostering, as well as cleaning around the house, making home cooked meals and keeping up with friends through phone calls and social media.

“Rain does not keep me at home,” Rhamy said. “I would have absolutely been out and about.”

Staff writers Emily Rasmussen and Richard De Atley contributed to this report.

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