Late-week storm to bring some rain, mountain snow to California before spreading into Southwest
A slow-moving Pacific storm will bring some late-season rain and mountain snow to California before spreading into the Southwest, offering limited but welcome moisture as drought and wildfire concerns persist.
The Springs Fire grew to more than 3,000 acres in the span of just a few hours on April 3.
A storm from the Pacific is forecast to spin slowly toward California later this week before drifting inland over the weekend, bringing some much-needed rain and of high-elevation snow. While the storm is far from the strongest of the rainy season, its extended duration will bring multiple days of showers for some locations.
Dry weather persisted across much of the West through midweek, and there was a renewed warming trend in parts of the interior Southwest.
Phoenix reached a high of 98 Wednesday and Las Vegas hit 91 ahead of increasing cloud cover from the approaching Pacific storm. Temperatures may still climb well into the 90s in Phoenix into Friday, ahead of the storm.
Along the California coast, including Los Angeles and San Diego, a marine layer kept temperatures stable with highs in the 70s.
The first showers from the Pacific storm arrived along the Northern California coast Wednesday night and will reach the San Francisco area Thursday.
Showers will spread into the Sacramento area later Thursday, then reach Los Angeles later Friday or Friday night. It may take until later Friday night for showers to reach San Diego and until Saturday to bring spotty rain to Las Vegas and Phoenix.
For those attending Coachella near Indio, California, dry, breezy and very warm conditions are forecast for Friday with sunshine and a high near 90. Breezes can cause blowing dust before any rain arrives later Saturday. Sunday will be cooler with showers in the area and a high in the 70s. More details are available in this story.
Opportunities for rain typically diminish from April to May as the rainy season winds down. With substantial drought already in place in areas east of California, each late-season storm becomes more important ahead of the typically sporadic rainfall from the North American monsoon.
In most cases, a few tenths of an inch to about 1 inch of rain will fall. Where thunderstorms develop or mountains provide a boost, the heavier downpours could deliver a couple of inches of rain. Downtown Los Angeles picked up just under one-quarter of an inch of rain from a storm on March 31. There is a chance this storm could surpass that, which would make it the biggest rainfall since mid-February.
The risk of flash floods and mudslides is low with this storm, but where downpours tend to focus in thunderstorms, the risk is higher.
Given the vegetation that dried prematurely due to last month's record-breaking heat wave, any rain will temporarily ease wildfire concerns.
The storm’s slow movement will bring multiple days of showers. While overall rainfall may be limited, its damp conditions and lower temperatures should linger for several days.
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Snow showers, or rain mixed with wet snow, will be confined to higher ridges and peaks in the Southwest during this storm. In the highest elevations of the Sierra Nevada, a few feet of snow is possible. Donner Pass could receive 1-2 feet of snow by Sunday night.
After a break from later this weekend into early next week, a similar storm may slowly move ashore along the Pacific Coast later next week.
Despite the impending storm, a slow forward speed should allow favorable conditions for the splashdown of Artemis II on Friday off the coast of Southern California.
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