Cold Southwest Storm

With a huge winter storm about to take air on New England by Friday, perhaps being the kind of storm remembered for generations to come, it makes the rather wimpy storm moving from the Northwest and northern California today then into Southern California Friday look like a wimp. And, in fact, it really will be a wimpy storm.

As the storm heads south today and tonight, it will be taking a mainly land trajectory. This will keep moisture limited, and therefore rain and snow amounts will be on the light side. A few showers will accompany the cold front today and tonight in northern and central California as it moves south with snow levels falling to 2,000-3,000 feet from north to south. An upper-level low will develop over Southern California, again over land, and will bring scattered showers to Southern California Friday and also to parts of central California. Snow levels will be low even in Southern California down to 3,000 feet. Though rain and snow amounts are on the light side, there will be enough snow over the Grapevine to make for slippery conditions. Other passes could have a little accumulation, too.

Daytime high temperatures on Friday will be 5 to 8 degrees below normal, making for a chilly day, and there will be some wind to go with that in any place along the central coast and in Southern California.

There will be snow showers over Utah Friday night and Saturday and northern Arizona will receive snow showers and perhaps up to a few inches above 6,000 feet. The deserts can have a shower but not much in the way of rainfall.