For the first time in 20 years, it’s expected to rain on the Rose Parade.
The January 1 procession is almost invariably held during a mid-winter heatwave and clear blue skies, an advertisement for life in Southern California broadcast to a frozen nation. The statistics bear that out: It has rained only 10 times in the parade’s 136-year history.
Not so for this installment.
The region’s current windy conditions will give way to rain by mid-week, with the National Weather Service calling for “periods of light to moderate rain” beginning Wednesday or Wednesday night (New Year’s Eve) and continuing through Saturday. Forecasters say roughly 1-3 inches of rain is possible by week’s end in coastal and valley areas, with 2 to 5 inches possible in the mountains. That’s on top of the 5-10 inches seen in many parts of the Southland last week.
If the forecast holds, it will be the first time rain has fallen on the floral procession since 2006.
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Given that those storms saturated the ground in many areas, including Pasadena, authorities again are warning of possible mud and debris flows from the upcoming rain.
Parade officials say they are prepared for the deluge, with virtually every employee of the City of Pasadena working New Year’s Day. That includes tow trucks at the ready to haul off stalled floats. (In 2006, floats from the cities of Burbank and Sierra Madre, Disney and Trader Joe’s broke down.)
An estimated 800,000 people lined the streets for the event last year. The City of Pasadena issued a reminder today that “umbrellas are not permitted along the parade route because they block the view for others.”
Additionally, the road closures will be in effect, per Pasadena Transit:
On NYE, Routes 10, 20, 33, 40, 51/52 & 53 will detour starting at 6 PM until end of service (8 PM) to avoid Old Pasadena. Rt 51/52 will detour all day to avoid Rose Bowl area. On New Year’s Day Rt 33 will detour from 6 AM – 3:30 PM.
According to The Weather Channel, there is a 77% chance of rain in Pasadena for New Year’s Eve and 98% on New Year’s Day — increasing the possibility of a soggy Rose Parade.
NWS forecasters said people heading for the parade should expect to get wet. “The chances of a wet New Year’s parade, and including the night before when people came out before the parade, are extremely high,” forecasters said in a statement Monday afternoon.
The Rose Parade will be carried live locally on KTLA. Leeza Gibbons and Mark Steines are returning to co-host, with KTLA 5 Morning News anchor Chris Schauble reporting from the parade route. Live coverage will start at 6 a.m. PT.
Magic Johnson is this year’s grand marshal.
The parade will also be streamed in its entirety on eight platforms: Christmas Plus, Dooya, FanDuel Sports Network, Fubo Sports Network, GFam+, Great American Pure Flix, Pluto TV and Samsung TV Plus. The livestream will include every one of the 85 floats as they make their way along the five-and-a-half-mile parade route
Following the parade, the 112th Rose Bowl game will see No. 1 seed Indiana University Hoosiers (13-0) will play No. 9 seed Alabama Crimson Tide (11-3). It will be broadcast at 1 p.m. PT on ESPN.
City News Service contributed to this report.