By Mary O’KEEFE

The New Year has brought rain, and snow, to California. As of Tuesday, Jan. 3 the rainfall totals in downtown Los Angeles were just slightly less than normal, something that has not been seen in a long time. The rain does not reverse California’s drought but any rain and snow helps.

“Downtown Los Angeles as of [Tuesday] has recorded 6.37 inches of rain, from Oct. 1 to present. Average, looking at the last 30 years of data, is 6.45 inches,” said Robbie Munroe, meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Oxnard.

The rain that we have had is due to the atmospheric river, or Pineapple Express, according to  Munroe.

Atmospheric River, according to NOAA, are “relatively narrow regions in the atmosphere that are responsible for most of the horizontal transport of water vapor outside of the tropics.”

More rain is expected tomorrow, Tuesday.

“There will be some opportunity for rain most of the days this week,” Munroe said.

Crescenta Valley and the foothills community will not be the only area that sees rain as the valleys and beaches will also get their share. Snow will remain at the 8,000-foot level with Mammoth seeing snow and rain, Munroe added.

Sandbags are available at local fire stations including LA County Fire Station 63 on Ramsdell Avenue.