The LA River is known for its lack of water. The iconic river is seen in Hollywood movies like Terminator 2 and Grease, but it turns into a chugging force every time there’s a rainstorm.
Studio City and Sherman Oaks saw more than their fair share of rain in December 2021 with monthly rainfall across the Valley climbing to nearly four times the normal amount, according to the National Weather Service.
With mudslides and debris flows wreaking havoc on roads throughout the southland, Coldwater Canyon Ave. was closed near Potosi Ave. due to a mudflow coming off the hillside, Dec. 30.
The chaos started when the previous day brought torrents of rain. The weather service station in Burbank registered about 2.5 inches of rain on Dec. 29 and the Woodland Hills station registered a whopping 4 inches.
With sporadic showers in January, Californians are hoping a wet winter will provide a much needed cushion as the state faces unprecedented drought. But experts say, don’t get your hopes up.
“It takes a long time to get into a drought of this severity, and there’s no quick fix,” Bill Patzert, a retired climate scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told the LA Times. “You crawl in, and you creep out.”
2021 was the driest year in a century for California, according to the LA Times, with reservoirs reaching historic lows and wild fires that consumed more than 2.5 million acres across the state.
