By Reginald Stanley. Posted December 8, 2018, 11:29 PM.

A slow-moving closed low pressure system brought extended periods of heavy rain and even thunder at times on Wednesday and Thursday of this week across the region.

Showers were initially light and slow to start on Wednesday, however rain rates massively increased mid-day Thursday as stronger, more persistent bands of rain began sweeping through the region. Wind gusts rapidly increased in some areas after noon Thursday, along with heavy rain and thunder. Lake Elsinore prominently experienced widespread flooding, as was expected by local officials. Snow levels fell down to around 6,500 feet above sea level. The trough finished its run through Southern California overnight, with residual showers continuing into early Friday morning before ending completely.

Rain amounts accumulated well within expectations of between 1 and 1.5 inches locally, with several locations exceeded those amounts. Anza, a normally drier location to the east, led the storm totals with 2.15 inches. Lake Elsinore followed behind with 2.02 inches, a total matched by Pinon Hills north of Los Angeles. All active WeatherCurrents stations and contributor submissions exceeded one inch, a phenomena which hasn't happened since a storm in January at the beginning of the year. In Yucaipa, 1.39 inches was reported (courtesy of Don Kramer) followed by 1.24 inches in nearby East Highland (courtesy of Peter Michas). In Temecula Valley Wine Country, 1.16 inches was reported (courtesy of Jim Sappington).

The particularly wet storm helped boost season-to-date totals to above average across most of the region, already proving the 2018-19 water year to be more active than the meager 2017-18 water year, when little rain fell at all. More unsettled weather is predicted on Tuesday, as well as the possibility of more wet weather next weekend.

Here are the rain totals for the WeatherCurrents network and associates: