Light showers forecast in Orange County late Thursday into Friday

Light rain will fall across Southern California late Thursday and into Friday morning, while cooler temperatures prevail through next week, according to the National Weather Service.

About half an inch of rain will come down in most places, with slightly more expected in mountain regions. That’s significantly less than the amount dumped by a storm that passed through at the beginning of November, NWS meteorologist Brandt Maxwell said.

“We’ll take what we can get,” Maxwell said.

The mild showers in the forecast won’t be intense enough to raise concern over potential mudslides or serious flooding, Maxwell said. They will significantly reduce the threat of wildfire, coupled with onshore winds that will help keep temperatures in the 50s and low 60s. Saturday might be a few degrees warmer, but then temperatures drop back down through at least the first half of next week.

Chilly conditions expected to persist over the next several days are the result of a trough of low pressure originating off of the coast of British Columbia, Maxwell said. That system was producing heavy rain and snow in Northern California but only mild precipitation further south.

“It will mostly be rain in the San Bernardino Mountains,” Maxwell said. “If you were trying to go skiing you’d have to go up further into the Sierras.”

For Friday, meteorologists forecast highs of 64 degrees in Costa Mesa and Fountain Valley, 62 degrees in Newport Beach, 61 degrees in Huntington Beach and 60 degrees in Laguna Beach.

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