Pacific Palisades Receives ‘Unbelievable’ 15.6 Inches of Rain in February

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

Throughout the month of February, Palisadians and Angelenos cracked many jokes about the seemingly perpetual rainfall, wondering if and when the never-ending sunshine for which California is famous would return—but how much rain really fell?

“Pacific Palisades received an unbelievable 15.6 inches of rain in February of 2024,” reported Craig Weston, who tracks weather data from The Huntington neighborhood.

This figure, Weston explained, surpassed the all-time record for February rain in downtown Los Angeles, which was 13.68 inches in 1998. Downtown LA has a “long and consistent history” of rain records, which has created a longterm set of data to compare to the Palisades.

“The most rain downtown Los Angeles has seen in any month occurred in December 1889 when 15.8 inches of rain fell,” Weston continued. “Pacific Palisades receiving 15.6 inches last month would place it in second place for the most rain in a single month in Los Angeles [when compared to downtown] going back to the late 1800s. (Other parts of Los Angeles may have different results.)”

The all-time record for a single day of rainfall in downtown LA was 5.88 inches on March 2, 1938, Weston reported. The Palisades saw 4.52 inches fall on February 4 alone.

The month of February began with two storms in Pacific Palisades—which brought more than 10 inches of rain to the area. By Sunday afternoon, February 4, Governor Gavin Newsom had declared a state of emergency in eight Southern California counties, including Los Angeles.

The bigger storm, described as a “slow-moving atmospheric river,” which began Sunday, February 4, brought 7.89 inches of rain to the Palisades by Tuesday evening, February 6, at 5 p.m., Weston reported at the time.

Storms that began Saturday, February 17, brought 2.73 inches of rain as of Tuesday morning, February 20, according to Weston.

The current rainy season is being measured from July 1, 2023, and will continue to June 30.

“Pacific Palisades has received over 28.42 inches of rain since July 1 of last year,” Weston said on March 11. “The average rainfall from July 1 to June 30 is just under 15 inches of rain downtown, so we are getting close to doubling our yearly average.”

In addition to February’s rain, Tropical Storm Hilary—which brought 3.88 inches of rain measured August 20 through 21, 2023, from The Huntington—factors into the current rainy season.

Weston called the storm—the first tropical storm to hit Southern California since 1939—a “very rare event.” At its peak, Hilary was reported to be a category 4 hurricane, bringing rain and wind to the Baja California Peninsula before making its way to the Southwestern United States.

The previous rainy season—measured from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023—saw double the annual average of rainfall in the Palisades, which Weston described as a “very healthy” 31.51 inches.