Well, we've had quite the week.
We've gotten some early
snow earlier in the week.
We've had a little bit of a break.
Now we're back on with more rain and snow.
Back into the forecast.
And just take a look at how
beautiful Donner Lake is,
a Wonderland out there,
as Mindy Osterman sent us.
Thank you so much for that photo.
Send us your photos by
uploading it on the ABC 10 now,
but in the Gilmore backyard.
We've been feeling those chillier
temperatures much earlier,
obviously as the sunsets earlier.
But what's new as we're going
to be dealing still with some
areas of patchy fog into your
Thursday morning and with that.
We're going to start to see the
clouds building as well as we
get to the mid morning hours.
By the afternoon though we'll be
looking at more rain and snow
back into the forecast Thursday.
Now Thursday Storm system is
set to be a smaller one,
pretty quick moving and then we
get a break Friday after that,
well we're dealing with a major
winter storm headed our way.
Now the break between storms on
Friday is that most of the day break,
so you're going to be dealing with
morning break into your afternoon.
But my late night Friday we
will start to see some of that
rain arriving for the valley.
And some of that snow in this year,
the major winter storm Saturday
and Sunday potentially lingering
into early Monday morning.
Now here's the low pressure system out there.
It is going to bring us some more of
that rain at first in the Pacific
Northwest and dragging its way
along the cold front ahead of it,
stronger winds into your Thursday afternoon.
And we do have a winter weather advisory
in effect for the first system.
This could bring as much as maybe 6 to
12 inches of snow for our Sierra spots here.
Now we do have wind gusts as
high potentially AS40 mph plus
even higher for those ridges.
But we will see this in effect
till 4:00 AM on Friday.
So this is a short lived system
with the next one which is currently
called a winter storm warning that
is in effect for the weekend.
And we're currently looking
at this one expiring first.
And then here's what I want to
show you about the atmosphere.
We do have our atmosphere looked
here at 500 millibars.
You see a little bit of a trough
starting to kind of flow into the
Sacramento area as we get to Thursday night.
And that little tiny dip is just
enough to bring us some of the
rain that we'll be seeing Thursday
evening especially for that.
Commute home for a lot of people,
but take a look at how much it
dips moving into Saturday,
an indication of how strong the
system is expected to get from
Saturday into Sunday,
a major dip here coming all
the way down into
even portions of Southern California as
we start to see it Saturday into Sunday,
moving across our region, we're looking
at the center of that low there,
right over Northern California,
bringing us that heavy rain and snowfall.
And we're talking about
inches of rain in the valley,
just feet of snow for the Sierra.
A lot more on the way.
First, let's talk about that first system,
the cold front arriving into the
evening hours and increasing the
winds anywhere from 15 to 20 mph.
You're seeing that from Stockton,
mostly N toward Oroville.
And then for this year we could see it again,
40 plus mile per hour wind gusts
with 25 mile per hour winds,
most of that coming in from the
South SE as you see that low
pressure circulation happening.
Now let's talk about timing.
Thursday, 4:00 PM,
you see that solid line starting to move in.
As we get into your evening hours,
we'll continue to see some
heavier rain moving in as well,
toward a lot of the Foothill spots.
And for the High Sierra,
more of that snow pushing through.
12:30 AM starts to become a little lighter.
So not too bad. But of course,
if you can't avoid travel during those times,
I would.
Alright, let's take a look here.
As you move into about 12:30 PM on Friday,
right around lunchtime,
the clouds really start to build up.
Very little sunshine between them and
you can see the rain just offshore
that'll start moving in as we get
to about 12:30 AM on Saturday.
You can see already snow pushing
through the Truckee area,
some of the rain for our friends
near Grass Valley and to Placerville
and then Yuba City as well.
The strongest rains near Fort Bragg Ukiah,
Clear Lake,
and then finally a solid line that is
streaming through right around lunchtime.
And we could.
Be some dangerous heavy rain pushing
through so you wanna take it nice and slow.
If you happen to be driving,
try to take it slower.
If not, just take an exit.
Some of these downpours in that red shade,
just intense at times.
Visibility will be very low,
ponding will happen and occur on
those roadways and for the Sierra
even expecting to shut down some
of those highways like 80 and
50 when it becomes very bad,
especially when visibility is low.
Now as we look into Saturday afternoon,
you can also see that nice solid
snow starting to form some of that
snow level dropping to about 3500.
Need where we will see accumulations
up to maybe 2 feet.
At that level,
around 2500 feet into Sunday morning,
you'll see some dusting happening,
but just maybe not feet of snow.
At that point the highest elevations
could see as much as four,
even maybe 5 feet of snow.
Now as this comes in Saturday,
the heaviest rain will still continue
to see that rain pushing in all the
way through your Sunday and even
partially into Monday.
As you see at 9:00 AM you are
looking at a little bit more of
that snow continuing to fall and
some of that rain in the valley.
And moving into Tuesday,
things start to clear up and at
least the first half of your week
is looking sunny now attend to
1/4 inch of rain is really what's
expected from Thursday storm system.
But look at the numbers start adding
up as we start getting toward Monday
from 1/10 to 1/4 inch all the way up to
potentially 2 inches of rainfall by Monday.
So it's just a lot to
handle for those roadways.
But when we look in and talk
about a lot of that snow,
we're seeing as much as three to four feet.
At Donner as well as ECHO,
we could see as much as 60 to 80
inches of snowfall, the highest.
Amount totals here in Sonora.
Now, if you have plans to travel along I-5,
you want to listen up because you're
seeing as much as one to 1 1/2 feet
of snow north of Redding toward the
Siskiyou Mountain Pass is there and
that is going to be a lot to deal with.
They're probably going to want to
close down the highway if need be.
You're going to want to carry
change no matter what.
But of course travel just really not
advised in these kind of situations.
All right?
Looking at the foothills,
Upper 40s and Low 50s,
you'll see the overnight lows
around 38 degrees Bay Area.
Looking at those mid 50s,
even the Sacramento area and
the San Joaquin Valley.
That's right around those
mid 50s for Thursday's highs,
but overnight lows have been at least
a little warmer in those upper 30s
out there as you're seeing that in
Galt as well as Sacramento area.
But again, we have a nice break Friday rain,
heavy Saturday and into Sunday.
We could slightly see a chance for
thunderstorms by Sunday afternoon,
but we'll just keep that on
your radar just in case.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
partly sunny skies,
then you might have another chance
to see some showers back in the
forecast Thursday and Friday.