Good Saturday, it's December 18th and we're
seeing morning lows below freezing point
for the valley 30 degrees in Sacramento
this morning with 31 in Stockton,
Low 30s, Auburn and Placerville
at freezing .9 degrees Truckee,
you're seeing those single digits
as well in South Lake Tahoe.
Definitely a cold morning start
with a lot of fog out there.
I5 at Richards Blvd,
some dense fog and that fog continuing
to be pretty dense for North Sacramento
through Davis along 80 all the way
to Mount Vacaville and Fairfield.
We're seeing.
Some dense fog also some patchy fog
through the delta early Saturday morning.
Now we do expect a lot of that
fog to begin lifting by the
mid morning lunchtime hours,
so visibility will improve,
but you can still see a lot of that
fog along I-5 in 99 between Sacramento
and Elk Grove and through areas as
you head toward the delta and we will
expect to see mostly cloudy skies
even though visibility improves a
lot of that cloud coverage and some
of that fog will begin lifting.
Becoming mostly just cloudy
skies throughout the afternoon.
We may get a peek of sunshine.
As we get about the early afternoon hours,
otherwise we do expect a chillier day
in those mid 40s and overnight lows.
Continuing to be cold,
we will see another morning of dense
fog that'll be for Sunday morning and
then potentially lingering into Monday,
so a lot more still on the
way between storm systems.
I know we got a huge storm just this
last week that brought in feet of snow
for this year as much as 6 to 7 feet
for some of those peaks we also saw
a lot of rain in the valley and now
the next system that is set to arrive.
On Tuesday.
And that's going to bring in some
travel concerns throughout the week,
because not just Tuesday is gonna
see that rain and even snow fall,
but we're seeing rain after every single
day of the week with scattered showers
toward the following weekend Christmas.
So yes,
dense,
patchy fog and cold temperatures.
But the big storm system is on the
way here is that low pressure system
that is pushing through areas of the
Pacific Northwest for the weekend,
bringing in that rain and snowfall,
but toward the tail end that's dragging
in moisture now that moisture is taking
a little bit longer to get here.
We will see a closed off low pressure
system just further South that
will begin to develop as we start
moving closer to Monday night.
That'll begin sweeping and across
Northern California as we start
moving from Monday into Tuesday.
Do expect that morning commute
Tuesday to be a little bit of
a wet one out there now.
Calm winds are creating more of the
dense fog to develop and what's happening
is the High Sierra in areas just offshore.
They're getting a wind pick
up here as we move
through Sunday and Sunday night,
but because we're lacking
that win for the valley.
For your Saturday, Sunday and
even potentially for your Monday,
we will expect to see more of that funk
development by Monday night, 8:00 PM.
The winds begin to pick up for the valley and
that's when that cold front sent to arrive.
That'll bring in some of that rain,
potentially overnight,
and then eventually bringing that
rain in for your Tuesday morning.
Let's time this whole thing out for us
now we are seeing that cloud coverage.
It'll start moving in mostly
cloudy to partly cloudy skies.
Then we get the rain arriving
as we get into Tuesday.
Early morning hours with
snow for the High Sierra,
but take a look at this if
you are making plans.
Leave for Christmas travel.
Maybe Tuesday into Wednesday.
You are seeing along I-5 here
just past reading and moving
into areas like Weed and Shasta.
Or we do get some snow along I-5
so make sure you prepare for that.
You're going to need to bring chains with
you if you're traveling up north this week.
Just bring him with you 4
wheel drive and snow tires.
Also,
if you have those,
make sure that you do have those chains
or at least snow tires with your 4 wheel
drive as you pass through these areas now.
The best advice I can give you.
Or going through some of these snowy areas
is make sure if you're planning this out,
you find the daytime high temperature.
If it's going to be above about 35 degrees,
you want to find that time period
to move through these zones.
That's the best shot you have at
getting through without chains.
Now you should still carry chains,
but if you're really trying to plan
this out appropriately and safely,
try to find the daytime high and get
through those areas where you're seeing
the highest temperature of the day.
Alright,
moving past Tuesday,
we will see more of the rain
and snow continuing Wednesday.
You can see more of the snow.
But this snow storm.
This is at much higher elevations.
It looks as though we're probably going
to get warmer temperatures because the
system is dragging in that atmospheric
river from so much further South.
That's going to draw in moisture,
but it's warmer now.
We will see snow levels
closer to about 5000 feet.
This last storm that came in that brought
snow levels down to as much as 1200 feet.
We saw North Auburn Hills areas
with a little bit of snow,
coal, fax with some snow,
so the two 1200 to 2000 feet
level was getting snowed.
This is not. Bad Storm just yet.
We're looking closer to about
5000 feet or we will see some
one to maybe 3 feet of snow.
If it is on the colder side,
we could get anywhere from two to
four feet more of that rain pushing
through and look how heavy it
gets as we get into Friday
early morning hours.
So the overnight Thursday into
Friday we start getting some of
the heavy rain and downpours,
and that's not good news.
We know that's Christmas Eve and a lot
of people head out on Christmas Eve,
so make sure your travels are deliberate.
They're slow, you make sure you're
getting where you need to be on time,
but also give yourself.
Enough time to go so you can keep
your distance from the car in front
of you and just keep your pace.
Keep yourself away from other cars and
then take a look at the snow levels.
Now we do see them still right
around 5000 feet and then more
continued rain and showers as we move
through Christmas and into the 26.
So we do expect quite a big event
here from Tuesday on into following
weekend Christmas weekend. All right?
Let's talk atmospheric rivers.
You can see this one here is going
to be drawing in from the South.
That's a lot of warm moisture,
warm air being pulled.
Into this low pressure system unit
actually see the swirl here of that
low pressure system pulling into
that atmospheric river and it'll
draw that moisture from that river
and pull it up into our atmosphere
into our area and deliver us rain.
Now notice that light bright blue.
Here it starts to shift further South.
This is where Southern California
and portions of it will get a
lot more moisture and heavy rain
downpours and potential for flooding.
If you're headed further South,
maybe for Christmas break into Los Angeles.
We are seeing on Wednesday that
chance for more heavy rain so again,
give yourself time to get through
and make sure you either want
to delay a little bit.
Maybe leave Wednesday night or into Thursday,
or maybe just come a day sooner if you don't
like driving in the rain or more of that.
Rain arrives with another system approaching,
but we're mostly going to draw in from
a low pressure system further north.
Now looking at our rain totals,
we could see anything from 1 to
potentially 2 1/2 inches of rain
from really Tuesday to Friday.
We could accumulate more of
that into the weekend.
So we're looking into or from one
to three inches of rain possible
for most of the valley spots,
and even into the foothills.
Let's talk snowfall.
We are going to see snow like I mentioned,
but the level of snow here again is
closer to about 5000 feet and higher.
So we're looking a little bit of a higher
elevation snowfall for this storm event.
If we do get colder air, that seems
to interject between storm systems.
We could expect as much as two to four feet.
Otherwise, a warmer scenario would
give us one to three feet of snowfall.
Again,
more snow along I-5.
Moving up into Northern California along
the border there of Oregon and California,
we do expect to see that.
Let's talk here. What are equivalent?
How much snow have we seen so far,
and where are we to date on average,
while looking at the Northern Sierra
Trinity area, we are currently 92%
of normal for this date and time.
This is excellent for us.
We need to continue getting these storms
in December and even moving into January
would be great for the Central Sierra.
We're at 102%.
This is wonderful news again.
Southern Sierra 105%. And again,
this is the normal for this date and time.
This is well above average that we get for
this time period and this time of year.
So good news for us here we
need to keep the momentum going.
This last winter storm this week
brought in some significant storm
totals here in terms of rain.
We did see in this three day period of time,
Sacramento received 3 inches of rain
total with December 13 having a record
day for SAC Executive Airport Stockton
and Modesto with record numbers beating
out some of the 2002. And 2020 numbers.
So 2 1/2 inches on one day.
Their December 13th that was great.
Brought US 3 inches of rain after
a three day period. 1 1/2 inches.
Pretty much there for Stockton
and 2.3 from Modesto.
Great news for us again.
Now in the next 8 to 14 day
precipitation outlook we are seeing
weather conditions for the Western US.
Again, this is wonderful news.
We have been waiting for this.
We have been in drought situations
for the last two years.
This doesn't necessarily get us
out of drought, but it advances us.
Toward the next water year,
which means we can store more of this
rain water into reservoirs or dams,
and all of that to help us get through
potential for next drought situations.
Dryer for the central to eastern US.
Let's talk some of the temperatures that
we're going to be dealing with over
your Saturday, and pretty much Sunday.
Very similar temperatures.
Upper 40s, low 50s for the foothills,
but the overnight lows.
They're getting very cold in
the mid to low 30s.
For Tahoe,
we'll see the low 40s for the high if you're
going snowboarding skiing for the weekend,
we're going to see the overnight lows there.
About the teens and low 20s.
On Monday,
the Bay Area looking at the low
50s to mid 40s in Antioch.
If you're in the San Joaquin Valley,
upper 40s to low 50s,
and then the Sacramento area also
looking at very similar temperatures,
though a little chillier here in
Sacramento in the mid 40s to upper
40s says you start heading up
toward the foothills now upper 40s
for your Sunday Low 50s and 40s.
Continue from this week as well
as moving into next week.