Valleywide : ‘Pineapple Express’ May Bring Heavy Rain

Looking ahead, National Weather Service forecasters said there is a slight chance of showers on Thursday, but it could build into a heavy rainstorm for the San Fernando Valley, depending on the effect of the “Pineapple Express.”

“We’re still looking at it,” said Stuart Seto, a spokesman for the National Weather Service in Oxnard. “It takes a combination of things to happen.”

The Pineapple Express is a stream of warm, moist air that originates in the central Pacific. If a storm system from the north--expected to move into Southern California Thursday--were to combine with it, the result could be heavy rains.

But forecasters don’t yet know how strong the Pineapple Express will be. The two weather patterns “have to connect pretty good at the right time frame,” Seto said.

As for today, any showers caused by a different storm system that slid down the California coastline last week should taper off. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Valley skies should be partly cloudy, Seto said.

Temperatures across the Valley today are expected to be 71 in Burbank, 70 in Van Nuys and Northridge, and 76 in Woodland Hills.