Los Angeles has a Mediterranean climate with a pronounced dry season, averaging only around 380 mm (about 15 inches) of rain a year, most of which falls between November and March. Because the region gets so little rain overall, storms that do arrive can feel outsized in impact: hillsides burned bare by wildfire season are prone to dangerous debris flows and mudslides even from moderate rainfall, and the city’s drainage systems aren’t built for the occasional atmospheric river event that can dump a significant portion of the year’s rainfall in a day or two. Radar is particularly valuable in this kind of climate precisely because heavy rain is the exception rather than the rule, giving residents in fire-scarred canyon communities a practical way to track incoming bands well before they reach the hills. Southern California’s weather is monitored by the National Weather Service’s regional Doppler radar network.
Learn more: How Does Rain Radar Work? · Open the full Rain Map