Clouds, Showers Catch Forecasters by Surprise

COSTA MESA —  Weather forecasters had predicted warmer temperatures and sunshine, but Mother Nature had different plans Tuesday, delivering cloudy skies and scattered storms in this unusually heavy rainy season.

Costa Mesa, Anaheim, Santa Ana and other areas experienced showers and sometimes driving rain Tuesday, while the rest of the county was only threatened with rain, said meteorologist Curtis Brack of WeatherData, which provides weather information to The Times.

Over the next few days, a lingering storm system will continue to bring “on and off showers,” and cloudy skies that seem to be on the verge of clearing up and then darken again, meteorologists said.

The weather is expected to clear up toward the end of the week--but could take a turn for the worse over the weekend, he said.

“We expect to see a dry spell on Thursday and Friday,” Brack said. “Then another storm could bring some rain on the weekend, but the storm is going to hit mostly Northern and Central California. We’re not expecting any kind of a deluge, or anything like that [in Orange County],” he added.

Orange County’s record rainfall occurred in 1978, when 31.02 inches of rain fell in Santa Ana, according to WeatherData records. During the current rainy season, Orange County has seen more than twice the normal rainfall to date, but it is too early to tell whether the area is on a record-setting pace, forecasters said.