Forecasters measured 4.52 inches of rain at the Santa Barbara Airport on Christmas, beating the previous record of 2.17 inches set in 1955.

WRIGHTWOOD, Calif. (AP) — A strong storm system that brought relentless winds, rain and snowfall to California this week was expected to ease Friday, but there was still a risk of high surf along the coast, flash flooding near Los Angeles and avalanches in the Sierra Nevada.

Rainfall from an atmospheric river this week slammed Southern California, resulting in freeway collisions, flooding, mudslides and a town where residents were trapped by water. The storm started Tuesday night,

As a record-breaking Christmas storm wraps up across Southern California, sunny skies are in store for the weekend before rain returns on New Year’s Day. The storm prompted the wettest Christmas Eve-Christmas Day recorded for downtown Los Angeles in 54 years, the National Weather Service said, with the area catching 2.79 inches.

Storm-hit Southern California was at risk on Friday of more floods hampering millions of motorists traveling after Christmas, but the National Weather Service predicts a drier weekend. The holiday deluge that started in earnest on Christmas Eve was spawned by the region's latest atmospheric storm,

On Christmas Day, torrential rain in Southern California set new records in Los Angeles, Burbank and Santa Barbara, federal forecasters said.

Christmas Day will bring cold and soggy conditions across Southern California as the second wave of a winter storm rolls through the region.

California could see a wintry holiday this year — just not the picture-perfect “White Christmas” Bing Crosby sang about.

The heaviest rainfall is expected on Wednesday, with several inches expected in most areas. Periods of possibly heavy rain could occur on Christmas Day.

Scientists attribute these extreme weather swings to climate change, warning of intensifying "hydroclimate whiplash" patterns globally.