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Rainfall records continue to be broken in Los Angeles

A man walks under an umbrella along Topanga Canyon Blvd. on Feb. 04, 2024 in Malibu. Officials across Southern and Central California are urgently warning residents to prepare as a storm system fueled by an atmospheric river brings heavy rainfall. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

A powerful storm has been continuously drenching Southern California since Sunday, and precipitation records are seemingly falling as fast as the rain itself. 

According to the National Weather Service, Sunday and Monday marked the third wettest two-day rainfall period in the history of Los Angeles. 

The last time Angelenos saw that much rain in two days was on Jan. 25 and Jan. 26, 1956, NWS said. 

Sunday was particularly wet for L.A., as it marked the wettest February calendar day in nearly 110 years and the third overall wettest day since records began being kept in 1877. 

Monday also marked the second day in a row of record rainfall in downtown Los Angeles, where 2.93 inches of rain marks the most rain fallen on the date of Feb. 5 in over 120 years. 

“Nearly half of the average seasonal rainfall of Los Angeles has fallen in two days,” NWS officials said. 

February 2024 is already the 13th wettest February on record just five days after the month began, with 8.72 inches.  

The wettest February on record happened in 1998, when L.A. saw 13.68 inches of rain during the shortest month of the year.

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Other locations that saw record rainfall include several airports in the L.A. area; LAX experienced more than two-and-a-half inches on Monday, smashing the previous record of 1.42 inches set in 1978. 

Fox Field in Lancaster and Palmdale Airport in Palmdale also saw rainfall records be broken by more than an inch, weather officials said, and both Bob Hope Airport in Burbank and Long Beach Airport received more than two-and-a-half inches. 

The total rainfall for the 2023-2024 water season in downtown Los Angeles – which officially started on Oct. 1, 2023, and ends on Sept. 30, 2024 – stands at 13.95 inches. 

“It is also already 98 percent of the normal seasonal rainfall of 14.25 inches,” the National Weather Service said. 

For live coverage of the storm system soaking Southern California, click here