More drenching rain and heavy mountain snow take aim at Central, Northern California
The last of a short train of storms that began late last week will finish up in California into Monday night with areas of rain and mountain snow.
Precipitation of all sorts hammered the West Coast on March 13, causing flooding in some areas, intense hail in others, and the mountains buried under more than a foot of snow.
After the recent series of storms this past week, the Pacific still has more storms to deliver. The region will remain in active storm mode for much of the remainder of the month, and its moisture will lead to more rounds of low elevation rain and mountain snow with the focus into Monday night stretching across Central and Northern California.
"As many as three storms and their associated ripples of moisture have pushed in from the Pacific and across the Northwest since Friday," AccuWeather Meteorologist Gwendolyn Fieweger said.
Most of the rain has now shifted south of San Francisco and will continue to push slowly southward over Northern and Central California before fading into Monday night. Another pocket of rain with mountain snow continued over Northern California.
A storm with a total rainfall of 1-2 inches will fall across inland regions from northern California to western Washington. Pockets of 2-5 inches with locally higher amounts have been reported from the northwestern corner of California through western Oregon--mainly along some of the lower west-facing slopes of the Coast Ranges, the Cascades and the Olympics.
Enough rain will fall to slow travel, and, in more extreme cases, flash flooding will occur in portions of Central California into Monday night. Landslides are also possible in steep terrain, while mudslides will most likely, but not limited to, recent burn scar locations.
While 3-6 inches of snow is likely to fall on the central Oregon Cascades on Monday, 1-2 feet is expected on the higher elevations of the northern Sierra Nevada.
Multiple rounds of snow will affect Donner Pass, California, along Interstate 80 into early this week. Periods of heavy snow with slippery roads and road closures will occur into Monday evening.
Winds will become strong enough over the higher terrain in the northern Sierra Nevada to cause considerable blowing snow and reduced visibility, creating blizzard conditions.
Several drivers in San Jacinto, California, were trapped in mudslides on March 13. Firefighters rescued six people at 6 a.m. Soboba Road was closed for cleanup, per Cal Fire Riverside County Fire Department.
Very little to no rain and mountain snow will reach Southern California. Some rain and snow showers may fall in the mountains north of Los Angeles by Monday, but any shower activity in the Los Angeles basin is likely to be very spotty.
No rain is foreseen for San Diego, which has already bagged its wettest month of the rainy season that began in early October. There has been 2 to 3 inches of rain around the city, compared to a historical average of about three-quarters of an inch for the entire month.
Downtown Los Angeles has done okay this month compared to most other months this winter, with about 2 inches of rain falling thus far, compared to a historical average of 1.2 inches for all of March.
More rain is needed over much of Southern California and the Southwest, for that matter, due to building drought conditions since the start of the rainy season this past autumn.
Rainfall has been a little lean in Central California this month so far. As of Sunday night, San Francisco has received 1.34 inches of rain compared to a historical average for March of 2.73 inches. Sacramento, California, has picked up 1.02 of an inch, compared to a monthly average of 2.68 inches.
At least two more storms will roll ashore in the Northwest from mid-to-late week. Little to no moisture is likely to reach Southern California from the two storms.
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