Rare October rains could push back L.A. fire season

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October is typically the peak of Southern California’s fire season, when Santa Ana winds paired with dry conditions after summer allow flames to explode into major brush fires.

But this year, the region was hit by an early atmospheric river rain storm that left the landscape drenched.

And that could be good news on the fire front — at least for a while.

The storm, classified as a weak, or Level 1, atmospheric river brought enough moisture to Southern California’s drought-stricken landscape to delay fire season for weeks, if not months, said Marty Ralph, director of the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

“In a way