Rain, snow and chilly air take aim on West Coast this weekend
A second storm in a matter of days will bring travel-disrupting rain, lowering snow levels and chillier air to the West this weekend.
A round of rain and mountain snow will spread across the West throughout the weekend and will be followed up by another storm arriving from the Pacific early in the new week.
The massive storm forecast to cross the country, bringing windswept snow and severe thunderstorms to the central and eastern U.S. early next week will get its start in the West this weekend, where it will arrive amid chillier air, AccuWeather meteorologists warn.
"Another in a lengthy series of storms will come ashore in the Northwest this weekend along with a cold front," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Heather Zehr.
The storm began moving onshore Friday night, bringing some rain and gusty winds, as well as snow to the higher elevations, where snow levels—the elevation at which rain changes to snow—will continue to fall through Sunday. The storm will be a continuation of a parade of storms that began early this week and will continue with another system next week.
While the storm is expected to morph into the season's most wide-reaching winter storm so far next week, the storm's bite in the West will be relatively limited.
The Pacific Northwest was the first up for impacts on Friday night. The rain moved through the Interstate 5 corridor from Eugene and Portland, Oregon, to Olympia and Seattle, Washington, into Saturday, tallying up to an inch in spots and slowing travel to start the weekend.
In Seattle, it will be the continuation of a wet winter thus far, where 9.57 inches of rain has fallen since Dec. 1, nearly 140% of the historical average.
California began seeing the storm's effects into Saturday night as rain and mountain snow pushed south through the state.
Sacramento, California, which has already received over 5 inches of rain since the beginning of December—about 1.50 inches above the historical average for that time frame—saw only 0.11 of an inch of rain on Saturday. Few areas saw more rain than that.
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"The storm will take an 'inside slider'-type path through California," said Zehr. "That means the storm will track down across the interior of California, bringing little rain to places like San Francisco and Los Angeles."
Zehr notes the rain will be unimpressive in the Los Angeles and San Diego areas into early Sunday, amounting to just a few isolated showers.
The cooler air arriving alongside and after the rain, will be most noticeable in the Golden State. Temperatures well into the upper 50s and even above 60 in many cities will be replaced by the 40s and lower 50s come Sunday and Monday.
The chill will even be felt on the red carpet on Sunday afternoon ahead of Hollywood's annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony. Temperatures are expected to only be in the mid-50s, and with gusty winds expected the AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperature may not escape the 40s.
With the chillier air expanding as the weekend wears on, areas inland across the Great Basin and even some Southern California mountains will also see snow, which has been a rarity so far this season.
A brief period of snow over the passes in Southern California can bring a small, but slippery accumulation late Saturday night to Sunday morning.
People in Alamo Square look out at "The Painted Ladies" row of Victorian Houses during a break between rain showers in San Francisco, Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
After wetting and whitening the West Coast inland to the Great Basin, the storm will then advance into the Four Corners region and the Rockies late in the weekend, setting the stage for a massive storm across the central and eastern U.S. this week, packing blizzard conditions, severe thunderstorms and flooding downpours.
The parade of storms will carry on into a second week, with another storm or two expected to move into the West through at least the middle of this week.
AccuWeather meteorologists will be monitoring a strong southward push of Arctic air that is poised to invade beginning next weekend on through the middle of the month.
"The frigid pattern around midmonth may not only lead to record low temperatures in the Northwest but may also lead to rounds of heavy snow at low elevations and perhaps down to sea level along the coasts of Washington and Oregon," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said.
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