According to today's Times (Heavy rain expected for Southern California), .....Four days of rain are expected to hit the Southland beginning tomorrow, with the brunt of the storm forecast for Saturday, when up to 10 inches of rain could fall in the mountains, forecasters said.
.....The weather system will barrel through Southern California in three waves—moderate, strong and weaker—that are expected to peak Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively, said National Weather Service spokesman Bill Hoffer in Oxnard.
.....The storm could bring the most rain to Southern California since 2005, and possibly even since the 1990s, said Stan Wasowski, a weather service forecaster in San Diego.
....."It's going to seem like a lot because we've gone a while without seeing much rain," he said.
.....The weather could lead to mudslides on fire-ravaged hillsides, forecasters said.
....."The ground is dry, it can soak up quite a bit of water. But once we get into the rain on Saturday, that's when the problems could start because the ground is already wet," Wasowski said.
.....One to three inches of rain is expected to fall Saturday in the valleys and eight to 10 inches could drop in mountain areas in Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Wasowski said.
.....Heavy rainfall is also expected in Orange County, where six to eight inches of rain could fall Saturday in the foothills.
.....Though the storm is shaping up to be one of the largest in several years, forecasters noted that things could change.
....."It appears it could be that way, but we won't know until it actually hits," Hoffer said.
Meanwhile, the OC Reg (New forecast calls for 6 inches of rain in foothills) reports that .....The core of the Pacific storm moving toward Orange County will arrive Saturday rather than Friday and will drop up to 6 inches of rain in the foothills, possibly causing flooding and mudslides, the National Weather Service says. Earlier forecasts called for 2-4 inches in the eastern foothills and lower Santa Ana Mountains.
.....The projected rainfall for coastal areas also has been doubled, to 2 to 4 inches, and forecasters say thunderstorms could roll through Saturday and Sunday. Coastal waterspouts are possible.
.....The leading edge of the storm will bring sprinkles to Orange County late Thursday night and light rain on Friday. Then the core of the storm moves in early Saturday. The weather service says the rain will be heavy and sustained at times, which would make the burn areas in Santiago, Silverado and Modjeska canyons especially prone to flooding and slides.
(All photos taken today in an around Modjeska Canyon)
WE READ Antoine de Saint Exupéry's The Little Prince every evening in Baja, finally finishing it up last night at home. 
The midriff of Baja with its towering cardons and curly boojums, the devastatingly beautiful rocky isolation, and, this year's surprise, eruptions of early wild flowers, pockets of yellow and red fringing the road and the boulders, resembles, in some ways, the Little Prince's planet, Asteroid B-612.
At this, the end of the book, my little guy turned over, snuggled down in the blankets and announced that he believed that the sheep had not eaten the flower and promptly, oh so quickly, you know how they do, fell asleep.
