Behind SoCal’s wettest Christmas, a drought-to-deluge cycle

A year ago, officials were sounding alarms about a bone-dry winter that days later would combine with wind gusts of up to 100 mph to bring about the worst fires in Los Angeles history.

Now, Southern California just experienced its wettest Christmas in modern history.

This Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were the rainiest in the modern record for many parts of Southern California, according to the National Weather Service office in Oxnard. Some mountain areas have received close to 18 inches of rain since Tuesday, with more rain falling on Friday — though it should clear up by the weekend.

This is also one of the wettest starts to the water year, which began Oct. 1. Through midday Friday, it already ranked in the seven wettest for Southern California — a complete opposite from last year.

The rain brought needed moisture to dry vegetation and helped keep the state out of drought conditions, further blotting out the risk of wildfire danger. It also speaks to a larger cycle.

Last year was remarkably dry and hot. The summer and fall of 2024 were some of the hottest months in coastal Southern California since at least 1895. California experienced its hottest July ever in 2024.

Around the globe, people are seeing more dramatic swings between dry-to-wet and wet-to-dry weather whiplash. Scientists say more such episodes of “hydroclimate whiplash” are anticipated worldwide because of human-caused global warming.

From Wednesday through Thursday, Santa Barbara Airport — which was forced to close twice on Christmas Day because of flooding and reopened Friday morning — got 5.91 inches of rain, beating the Dec. 24-25 record last hit in 1955, when 3.22 inches fell.

Woodland Hills got 4.64 inches of rain, beating the record of 3.34 inches set in 1971; Oxnard, 4.63 inches, beating the record of 2 inches in 1979; Van Nuys, 4.17 inches, beating the record of 1.16 inches set in 2019; Burbank, 3.48 inches, beating the record of 3.1 inches in 1971; Camarillo, 3.54 inches, beating the record of 2 inches in 1979; and UCLA, 3.1 inches, beating the record of 3.02 inches set in 1971.

Downtown L.A. has recorded 2.79 inches from Christmas Eve through Christmas Day. That’s the fourth-wettest Dec. 24-25 period on record. The record for Dec. 24 and 25 is 3.82 inches in 1889.

The last time a Christmas Eve-Christmas Day period was wetter was in 1971, when 3.24 inches fell over the two-day period.

Rainfall totals were much higher in the mountains. For the three-day period ending 6 a.m. Friday, more than 17 inches had fallen on Rose Valley in Ventura County, more than 14 inches at San Marcos Pass in Santa Barbara County and the middle fork of Lytle Creek in San Bernardino County; and more than 11 inches at Chilao South in the San Gabriel Mountains of L.A. County.

Over the same time period, Porter Ranch got more than 9 inches of rain; Newhall, more than 8 inches; Canoga Park and Northridge, more than 6 inches; Hansen Dam, Agoura Hills and La Cañada Flintridge, more than 5 inches; Bel-Air, Eagle Rock and Van Nuys, more than 4 inches; and Alhambra, Burbank, Beverly Hills, downtown L.A. and Sierra Madre more than 3 inches.

Flood watches remained in effect through much of California at least through Friday afternoon.

Evacuation orders remained in place for dozens of homes in the Riverwood neighborhood of Sunland. The neighborhood could be at risk from a partial release of water from Tujunga Dam by the L.A. County Department of Public Works, city officials said, which is intended to prevent potential flooding in the surrounding area. “This is a standard process that has been conducted in the past,” officials said.

Evacuation warnings are in place in recent burn scars in L.A. County, with evacuation orders issued for specific homes at higher risk for mudslides.

Showers, with a slight chance of embedded thunderstorms, slowly moved southeast Friday over Orange County, the Inland Empire and San Diego County, the weather service office in San Diego said.

As the storm exits the region, it’s possible 1 to 3 inches of snow will have fallen Friday around an elevation of 7,000 feet in the San Bernardino Mountains, with 8 to 12 inches above 8,000 feet.

The weather is expected to be drier across California at the start of next week. But there is a chance of a moderate-to-strong Santa Ana wind event in Southern California early next week.

It’s also possible that precipitation could return to Southern California toward the end of next week — starting around New Year’s Eve and continuing through Jan. 2. In Orange County, the Inland Empire and San Diego County, 1.25 to 1.6 inches could fall on the coast and in the valleys, with 2 to 3 inches in the coastal mountain slopes; 0.25 to 0.5 inches could fall in the low deserts and 0.4 to 0.75 inches in the high deserts, the weather service’s San Diego office said.

In Los Angeles and Ventura counties, a chance of rain on New Year’s Day and Jan. 2 could bring 1 inch of rain to the coast and valleys, and 2 to 3 inches in the foothills and mountains, the weather service’s Oxnard office said.

The Christmas holiday storms have caused significant damage across California and resulted in at least three deaths — a motorist who drove into floodwaters in Redding; a woman who was knocked off a rock by a large wave at a beach in Mendocino County; and a man struck by a falling tree in San Diego.

Two people were killed in a crash involving three vehicles on the Grapevine section of the 5 Freeway around 3 p.m. on Thursday. Authorities have yet to say what caused the crash.

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Shasta counties, allowing for state resources to mobilize quickly and authorizing Caltrans to seek federal help to repair damaged roads.

Damage was reported across the state, with flooding, landslides and fallen trees also reported in the Central Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. Tornado warnings were briefly issued for the San Gabriel Valley on Wednesday and parts of San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties on Thursday.

Misty Cheng looks at the flood damage to her home in Wrightwood, Calif., on Thursday.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

Among the areas hardest hit was Wrightwood, a town of a few thousand people in the San Gabriel Mountains on the border between Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. A Christmas Eve debris flow — a fast-moving flow of mud and rocks — rammed into homes and left cars buried in debris.

There was damage to multiple properties and a number of swiftwater rescues, with nearly 10 inches of rain recorded in the area in a 24-hour period, the weather service said.

People in Lytle Creek, another community in the San Gabriel Mountains, were trapped after a bridge connecting parts of the town was covered with water and possibly destroyed.

Evacuation warnings were in place for Wrightwood and Lytle Creek.

A woman was rescued after she was seen being swept away in San Jose Creek in the San Gabriel Valley — near Fullerton Road by the 60 Freeway, in an area around the City of Industry. She was rescued around where the creek passes Workman Mill Road near the unincorporated community of North Whittier, near the junction of the 605 and 60 freeways.

Major freeways had been shut for hours because of the storm, including Interstate 15 through the Cajon Pass and Interstate 5 in Sun Valley.

Los Angeles firefighters deployed teams to several river-rescue incidents; one involved the rescue of a man, his dog and his cat who were in a recreational vehicle on an island in the middle of a creek and were trapped by rising waters. The three were hoisted into a helicopter.

On Friday morning, a woman in her 20s was spotted being swept away by fast-moving water in the Tujunga Wash, near Branford Street in Pacoima. She traveled for some 10 miles for much of the length of the San Fernando Valley, and into the Los Angeles River, before she was rescued near Universal City, where the waterway crosses Lankershim Boulevard.

The woman was transported to a hospital and treated for minor injuries, including hypothermia, the Los Angeles Fire Department said.

Later Friday morning, a woman wearing all black was spotted in the Pacoima Wash near Fourth Street in San Fernando by a 911 caller, according to the LAFD.

Rescue teams were using markers to try to find the woman, who was moving at about 25 mph in 3 feet of water, a spokesperson confirmed. The Pacoima Wash is a 33-mile-long stream that carries water to the Tujunga Wash and eventually the Los Angeles River.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said it responded to numerous vehicles trapped by flooding across the Antelope Valley.

Times staff writers Terry Castleman, Noah Goldberg, Amy Hubbard and Sandra McDonald contributed to this report.