Two more storms lining up for California, West with rain and snow next week
After a break this weekend, the Pacific storm train will resume with both needed and problematic rain and mountain snow for California and many other parts of the western United States next week.
AccuWeather California Expert Ken Clark says storms are in store for the western U.S. next week, with rainfall coming to Southern California, Nevada and Arizona, as well as snow for the mountain.
In the wake of the storm that rolled ashore in the southwestern United States during the middle of this week, most areas will get a break this weekend. However, AccuWeather meteorologists say that more storms will move into the region, including California.
This weekend should have relatively quiet weather conditions along much of the Pacific coast. There can still be some risk of landslides where heavy rain recently fell as some of the hillsides may have become unstable.
More storms are gathering over the Pacific, and one storm—the smaller of the two forecast to roll in next week—will arrive in Central and Southern California on Tuesday before expanding inland over the deserts Tuesday night.
"This storm early next week could bring a good soaking to some areas near the coast but lighter amounts over the interior," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Heather Zehr said. "Snow will fall over much of the higher terrain throughout the Southwest."
The next storm, a much larger system, will waste little time following up next week.
The larger storm will spread rain into the Northwest and expand quickly into Northern California later Tuesday night before spreading into Southern California and part of the Great Basin on Wednesday and next Thursday.
"While there can be some heavy rain and snow in Washington and Oregon, California seems more at risk for excessive rain and very heavy snow with the second storm for next week," Zehr said.
"Snow levels will not only fall down to most pass levels in the Cascades, Siskiyous, Sierra Nevada and Coast Ranges, but levels can dip extremely low if the storm and the weather pattern develop to its full potential from Wednesday to Friday," Zehr added.
Motorists should expect delays due to flooding on some of the highways and potential road closures over some of the passes. Airline delays at some of the major hubs along the Pacific coast are also anticipated.
Despite some moisture in recent weeks, the overall zone of abnormally dry to exceptional drought lingers over the Southwest, including in Southern California, and in some cases, the situation is getting worse.
More storms with generous rain and mountain snow are needed prior to the beginning of the dry season, less than a couple of months away.
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