Jacob Margolis for LAist
Originally published Nov. 12, 2025, and updated Nov. 14, 2025
The rain falling on Southern California Friday has been heaviest in Santa Barbara County, dropping more than 5 inches in some parts of the Santa Ynez Mountains. That heavy rain is expected to arrive in Los Angeles County late Friday or early Saturday.
Anywhere from 2 to 5 inches of rain is expected, but as much as 8 inches could fall along coastal slopes, including recently burned areas, raising the risk of debris flows, according to the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
The storm is expected to wrap up by Sunday.
Evacuation warnings have been issued by L.A. County for the Eaton, Palisades, Kenneth and Canyon fire burn scars. Residents should be prepared to evacuate, as rainfall rates could exceed the debris flow threshold of half an inch per hour.
Authorities were going door-to-door Friday at specific properties in burn zones to tell people to evacuate, according to L.A. County’s emergency website. The county is providing updates on its emergency website .
A National Weather Service flood watch is in effect through Saturday for Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. It will be expanded to L.A. County by Friday night.
The average amount of rainfall for downtown L.A. in November is 1.23 inches, making the potential 5 inches a surprising amount this early in the season.
This storm has been difficult for forecasters to predict, as it’s a cutoff low, or a low-pressure system that’s detached from the more predictable jet stream. As the storm develops, estimates could change. For example, there’s a 10% chance that rainfall rates will be under 2 inches for L.A.
As for fire season? We’ll have to get back to you on that one. It’s going to depend on this storm’s rainfall totals. Typically, the NWS in Oxnard looks for a widespread 3 to 4 inches of rainfall across the area before they put a bow on fire season. We could be there by the end of the weekend. However, assessments will need to be made after the storm wraps up.
Evacuations and closures
Specific properties in burn zones are under evacuation orders in Los Angeles County.
Evacuation warnings have been issued for the Kenneth, Palisades, Eaton and Canyon fire burn scars in Los Angeles County. In Ventura County, evacuation warnings have been issued for the Mountain Fire burn area and for mountain areas near Ojai. Check Ventura County’s emergency webpage for more .
A flood watch is in effect for much of Southern California through Saturday night.
If and when evacuation orders are issued, you’ll be able to find them here:
Forecast
This storm should wrap up by Sunday morning. A milder storm may drop some rain on the area late Sunday into Monday. Toward the end of next week, forecasts are showing a potential for intense precipitation, but it’s still a bit too early to tell.
For the latest resources
There are things you can do to give yourself the best chance of receiving urgent messages, such as evacuation orders, during an emergency.
One of the most important is to sign up for emergency text messaging services in your city or county. That’s one of the main ways emergency responders communicate with large numbers of people.
There’s Alert L.A. County , for example. But just 1.6 million people here are signed up — out of about 7.8 million adults. If as an Angeleno you do nothing else to prepare today, sign up for Alert L.A. County.
You should also be aware of the X (formerly Twitter) accounts of your local agencies, as that’s often where they post updates.
Here’s a guide to how to stay alert throughout Southern California — in rainy season, fire season or any season.
