California to face heavy rain through end of the week
Good Wednesday afternoon!
Most of California will receive some rain through the end of the week as we deal with a dynamic weather pattern in the West.
The first round of rain is already underway in the far northwestern California with most areas already seeing 1.50 to 2.50 inches of rain. This extends into southern Oregon as well. As I write this post, a weather gauge in the Coast Range is already over 3 inches. This is where we expect to see the heaviest rain through Friday.
The Coast Range and the Sierras will be the focal point of heaviest rain due to terrain effects. Amounts of 3 to 6 inches will be widespread through the higher terrain with some rain gauges perhaps picking up to 8 inches. This can lead to flooding, especially in burn scar areas. There will also be a threat for mudslides as well.
Total precipitation through Friday afternoon across California as depcited by the GFS model. Generally 3 to 6 inches are expected in the higher terrain but higher amounts are possible. Some of the precipitation shown in the Sierras may fall as snow.
The Sacramento Valley is looking at a general 1 to 3 inches and even the San Joaquin Valley could pick up an inch or two of rain through Friday. Rain will arrive in Southern California late Thursday through Friday where 0.25 to 0.75 inches will be possible, locally higher.
There are several factors in play here with this complex setup. We have a front hung up near northwestern California and several energy impulses riding along it. One of those is driving the rain now and another one will arrive Thursday night.
A surge of moisture from the tropics can be seen in this image of precipitable water. (Image/Univ. Wisconsin-Madison)
We can also look at precipitable water which is essentially the depth of water in a column of the atmosphere. As you can see by the above image, there a plume of higher precipitable water surging towards the West Coast from the tropics. This is an atmospheric river, a narrow region of the atmosphere that drives water vapor from one area to another. This is helping to fuel the heavy rain across the northern part of the state.
For more information on this storm, you can check out our story.
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