Keep that umbrella handy

More rain is on the way tonight, as forecasters say Monday night’s wet weather was a preview of a thunder and lightning storm moving over Orange County this evening.

“You might see some blue sky momentarily until the next one moves in,” Dan Wasowski of the National Weather Service said.

Tonight’s storm should last for several hours and generate between 1 and 2 inches of rain. The storm will be followed by cloudy skies and showers into Wednesday morning.

Forecasters say the rainy weather is caused by cold air coming from the Gulf of Alaska and combining with some moisture off Hawaii into a low pressure system over the Pacific Ocean.

The storm will bring some wet weather to what has been an unusually dry year, Wasowski said. Since July, rain gauges at John Wayne Airport have only picked up 4.28 inches of rain; normally by this time of year, the area gets closer to 11.41 inches of rain.

“It’s been very dry. We’re less than half of normal up to this point,” he said, adding that most of this year’s rain has come since January.

The rainy weather can be brisk business for some area merchants or make a slow day for others.

Lee Muntean of AAA Convertible and Sunroof said his phone starts ringing off the hook this time of year with people complaining about water damage.

“It’s during the rain that they all come in,” said the sunroof repair man.

When it’s sunny, people come into fix convertible tops and sunroofs that won’t open; when it’s rainy, they come in to repair leaks, Muntean said.

“Either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, I’ll get a lot of calls,” he said.

No one’s going into Barbeques Galore on Harbor Boulevard, store manager Adam Eves said. The retailer usually gets about 50 customers a day ? when it’s raining, the manager said he sees about 10.

“When we hear it’s going to rain out, we know it’s going to be a slow day,” Eves said.