SECOND-WETTEST EVER SEASON'S RAIN SURPASSED ONLY IN 1883-84.

Byline: Lisa Mascaro Staff Writer

A lightning storm hit Los Angeles on Tuesday and meteorologists watched minute by minute until 3:07 p.m. when it became official: The 2004-05 season had become the second-wettest in a history of record-keeping dating back to 1877.

Rainfall at the downtown Los Angeles monitoring station surpassed the No. 2 spot set when 34.84 inches fell in 1889-90. And it kept on raining, slowly moving toward the record of 38.18 inches set in 1883-84. The official rainfall season ends June 30 and there's a fair chance this could wind up the wettest year ever.

Even meteorologists who had the day off were calling in to the National Weather Service's Oxnard office to see whether history had been made.

``We've been watching that like a hawk,'' said meteorologist Bruce Rockwell, who was monitoring the computer when the record was broken and alerted his colleagues to send out the news. ``The second-wettest year in all time ... makes it quite a significant event.

``That's what we're excited about.''

The strong Pacific storm was expected to dump as much as an inch of rain Tuesday night before mellowing to lighter showers today and Thursday. Friday through Sunday should have sunny skies.

``Now the big drama is if we beat 1883-84,'' said Bill Patzert, climatologist at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena.

``At this point we've built up a nice backlog above average so we could coast in. But Mother Nature can even foil (that).''

Los Angeles would need heavier-than-normal rainfall to set a record since the historic average for the next few months is 1.97 inches.

``Statistically we shouldn't make it,'' said Rockwell. ``This is the end of the rainy season. But anything could happen. I don't think we're going to break the all-time record with this storm. But we've still got April yet, and part of March, too. One good rainstorm, we could do it.

``(Tuesday) is going to be an important night. If we get an inch of rain, we have more of a chance.''

But, as Rockwell noted, fascination with records can ignore the serious consequences of stormy weather. Another severe rainstorm could be devastating for the region, which has already suffered a brutal winter that has claimed lives, caused millions of dollars of damage and led some areas to be declared disaster areas.

``We don't want to make No. 1 and have 3 to 4 inches of rain and have a lot of problems with flooding.''

As the weather experts pointed out in their alert Tuesday, the last winter that it rained harder there were no cars or airplanes, Chester A. Arthur was president and the population of Los Angeles was just over 11,000.

But the current record-breaking has come with a price tag as homes have slid from hills, roads have washed away and lives have been lost in the downpour.

Tuesday's rain brought more damage to the already hard-hit region.

A flash-flood watch was issued Tuesday afternoon for the Santa Monica Mountains area, thunderstorms battered some areas and thousands of DWP customers lost power across the city.

The CHP reported that flooding was tying up traffic just as the evening rush hour was getting under way.

``It's raining in most areas in the L.A. area; the traffic is pretty slow in all the usual arteries heading out of downtown,'' said California Highway Patrol Officer Vince Ramirez.

As rush hour wore on, freeway lanes and connector ramps were shut down across Los Angeles County, resulting in five SigAlerts well into the evening, the CHP said.

In the San Fernando Valley, a utility pole caught fire, cutting power to 400 customers in Canoga Park, while an additional 750 Canoga Park customers lost power when wires went down, the Department of Water and Power said.

Pacoima customers lost power, as did more than 2,500 customers elsewhere in Los Angeles, the DWP said.

In a normal year, when Los Angeles sees about 15 inches of rain, a storm of this size would be considered significant, officials said.

But breaking the record captured Angelenos' attention Tuesday.

``Here I am biting my fingernails,'' said Patzert before the record was broken.

The day started with 34.81 inches on record, but once the rains began the downtown monitoring station tallied the 0.04 of an inch needed to pass the No. 2 spot.

For meteorologists, it's a once-in-a-lifetime event, and one that Rockwell said he and colleagues won't soon forget.

``They'll remember.''

At the NWS, the staff kicks off the season with an annual contest to see who predicts closest to the year's rainfall total. This year's winner has already taken the prize with a guess of 25 inches, Rockwell said.

``Nobody, to be honest, predicted 34 inches,'' he said.

``This is just second place. There's going to be a lot of anticipation,'' he said. ``It's going to be interesting to see what happens after this storm, to see how close we are to the all-time record.''

Lisa Mascaro, [phone]

lisa.mascaro(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

photo, box, chart

Photo:

(color) Tuesday's raindrops become a blur on a windshield, giving an impressionistic view of a pedestrian.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

Box:

L.A.'S WETTEST YEARS

Chart:

WELL ABOVE AVERAGE

SOURCE: National Weather Service

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