For a few days, calm before the next storm

Four days of on-again, off-again rain and strong wind continued to snarl rush-hour traffic, trigger mudslides, flood intersections and inflict scattered power outages Monday, but the National Weather Service said relief was in sight.

Only a 20% chance of rain has been forecast for the next few days, although that will rise again to 50% by late Friday.

Downtown Los Angeles has received almost 2 inches of rain since Thursday night, about 13% of its annual average, said meteorologist Todd Hall of the weather service’s Los Angeles office.

Mudslides blocked trails and threatened to overflow barriers in Sierra Madre, and a rain-induced rock slide occurred near Mountain Center in Riverside County.

Power outages caused by storm-water overflows persisted for a fourth day, but each of the few areas still without electricity late Monday involved fewer than 50 people, Department of Water and Power spokeswoman Stephanie Interiano said.

All were expected to have service restored overnight.

In the Southern California mountains, up to 3 inches of snow was forecast, and the weather service warned of blowing snow reducing visibility to near zero in some areas, creating treacherous driving conditions.

The fresh snowfall was expected to entice skiers to the mountains over the long weekend that ends Monday with the Presidents Day holiday.

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