Posted January 12, 2010, 3:40 PM.

Before the weekend comes, though, another weak storm could drop a tenth of inch of rain in the inland valleys.

Showers are possible Wednesday as a front rolls through the region. They should start Wednesday morning and could linger through Wednesday evening. Nothing heavy is expected, although the wetter slopes could get as much as a quarter of an inch of rainfall.

A high pressure ridge has kept most of the storms from coming south, according to Jim Purpura of the National Weather Service. "The steady persistent wet storms that can occur with El Nino have been diverted around the area," he said.

"El Nino, in southern California means unreliably wet winters, while El Nino's counterpart, La Nina, means reliably dry winters."

Storms are lined up to strike Southern California next week. We may be in for periods of heavy rain, beginning Sunday or Monday.

The details are still uncertain, but forecasts now have several inches of rain predicted for next week.