Stormy California weather to shift south

AccuWeather

After flooding risks in the Bay Area on Feb. 4, wet weather will finally make its way into Southern California. Here's what to expect.

Transcript

00:00The atmospheric river is gradually shifting south.

00:02It's going to begin to lose a little bit of its identity here.

00:05But in the meantime, we're going to see some rain eventually

00:08into Southern California as well.

00:10So to help us break down the details of this California

00:14weather story is AccuWeather meteorologist

00:17and a long time California expert, Ken Clark,

00:20and Rancho Cucamonga.

00:21And Ken, as I mentioned yesterday,

00:22it's so good that we're not talking about fires.

00:25It's healthy to get moisture this time

00:26of the year in California.

00:28But it has been kind of the haves and the have-nots

00:31in general for most of the past few months.

00:34For the whole winter season, the South

00:36can't buy rain in San Diego.

00:38Even LA has had really low amounts of rain.

00:42Northern California, they've got plenty.

00:44They got too much.

00:45And that's been the story with this last series of storms.

00:48Storm 2 is now coming in.

00:50Lots of moderate to heavy rain occurring.

00:52Windswept rains.

00:53We've got some 30, 40 mile per hour sustained winds right now.

00:57Bay Area right into the Delta region.

00:59And that will keep up through this evening.

01:01And we might see a couple of gusty thunderstorms

01:05move through late this afternoon and early tonight as well.

01:08So all kinds of weather in Northern California,

01:10not so much in the South.

01:12And we do have this flooding risk

01:14that's been pretty well established

01:15over the past several days in Northern California.

01:17River flooding is a problem there.

01:19But as we look at maybe radar,

01:22we can switch over to the current scenario.

01:2424 hours ago, Ken, the southern extent of the widespread rain

01:28was a good distance north of San Francisco.

01:30Now it is moving through the Bay Area.

01:32And right before we pop back on the air here

01:35during the most recent break,

01:37you were mentioning that there's potential

01:38for some thunderstorms and sometimes

01:40some unusual things do happen this time of the year

01:42when you get an aggressive storm system like this.

01:45With a good low-level jet, lots of wind in the low levels

01:47and some spinning in the upper atmosphere too,

01:50we can't rule out a water spout,

01:52maybe a funnel cloud or two as well.

01:55So that's something to look forward to

01:57or at least look out for

01:58as we go into the late afternoon and evening hours.

02:01And eventually, this has been an atmospheric river event.

02:04It's beginning to lose a little bit of its flavor here.

02:08And as this moves farther south,

02:10I suspect we won't be able to call it

02:12much of an atmospheric river by the time it reaches LA.

02:14So how's this going to appear

02:16after this does move far enough south?

02:18How much rain are we expecting in a place like Los Angeles?

02:22Los Angeles is going to get two bouts of rain.

02:23The first one late tonight into tomorrow.

02:26It'll be a wet day tomorrow in Los Angeles,

02:28but it's a beneficial, for the most part, wet rain

02:30because we expect rain amounts not to be too great,

02:33half inch to three quarters of an inch

02:35in the lowlands around LA itself,

02:37maybe an inch or an inch and a half

02:39in the mountains on the southwest-facing slopes.

02:41It won't be too much.

02:42I think the risk of any mudslides and debris flows

02:45is pretty low and would probably be minor.

02:48The second storm, probably less rain than the first one,

02:52but still, again, threats for mudslides, debris flows,

02:54very low because the rain will be short-lived,

02:57first of all, and won't be all that heavy.

03:00And as we jump ahead about 24 hours from now,

03:03maybe a little more than 24 hours,

03:05we can take a look at future radar

03:06with another storm that begins to come in.

03:08This one, you can see kind of the break in the action.

03:11By this moment, 5 p.m. Pacific tomorrow,

03:13there probably won't be much rain lingering in LA,

03:16but to the north, we begin to watch this next one come in.

03:19So how will this storm be characterized

03:21compared to the most recent one?

03:24This is gonna be a colder storm, and significantly colder.

03:27Snow levels will plummet late tonight and tomorrow,

03:30and when this second storm system comes in,

03:32we expect snow levels to be as low as 3,000 feet,

03:34maybe even a bit lower,

03:36especially around I-5, around Redding area.

03:39Could be down to less than 2,000 feet in places.

03:41And snow levels in the Sierra,

03:43we're gonna have major problems

03:45getting over the Sierra for the next,

03:47well, especially as we get into Thursday and Friday,

03:50because very heavy snow at low levels there,

03:54another few feet of snow at ski areas.

03:56It's just gonna be a mess up there.

03:58Thankfully, it's a fast-moving storm,

04:00and it will be gone by later in the day,

04:01Friday and the weekend.

04:03So Caltrans has their work cut out for them

04:05here through the end of the work week

04:06at Donner Pass, for sure.

04:08And elsewhere, too, up I-5, west of Mount Shasta.

04:11Thanks again for all your insight.

04:12As always, AccuWeather meteorologist

04:14and California expert, Ken Clark.

04:16Thanks, Ken.

04:17You're welcome.

04:18All right.

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