California braces for rain, snow and flood threat

AccuWeather

AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter discusses the California rain and mudslide threat.

Transcript

00:00I want to bring in our chief meteorologist Jonathan Porter and you know, John, you and

00:04I spoke on Friday and we were like, you know what, this setup on Thursday looks a little

00:11troublesome for Southern California.

00:13It does, Bernie.

00:14It has trouble on it because of the fact that we're talking about deep tropical moisture

00:19being drawn right up into Southern California where the rain is needed, but it cannot come

00:25too fast, too furious because that's when we get into the flash flood concerns.

00:29You can see all of the energy underneath our upper low in the Gulf of Alaska.

00:33That's the storm we think that's going to be directed in the California, John.

00:38And you know, this will likely be the biggest rainstorm I think this season in Southern

00:45California.

00:46Yeah, I think that's going to be the case.

00:47The biggest storm in Southern California, which of course, any time would result in

00:51the concern for flash flooding when that rain comes too fast, too furious.

00:55But especially now in the areas around Los Angeles where we've had these significant

01:00devastating wildfires, that's where the burn scars there, that's where there can be even

01:05more concerns as it relates to flash flooding.

01:08Yeah, now, short term pain, long term gain.

01:12We talk about this all the time.

01:13This is going to cause some flooding, but you know what, John, when you look at the

01:16drought monitor in the short term, they need the rain.

01:23They sure do.

01:24We've all been short term drought here across Southern California, which means that in the

01:28wet season so far, last fall into this winter, there's been very little rain and that's why

01:34all this vegetation is dried out.

01:36That's why the rain is so needed there, though the water situation in California in general

01:41is not a problem.

01:42Bernie.

01:43Yeah.

01:44Take a look at the reservoir levels now.

01:45The two biggest reservoirs are Shasta and Oroville.

01:48That's no surprise because that's in Northern California where they have the rain.

01:52But take a look at one of the bigger reservoirs in Southern California in Castiac near the

01:59historical average.

02:01That's correct.

02:02So there's no long term water problems there.

02:04It's just been the short term drought.

02:05So the rainfall will be welcome in that regard.

02:08But the problem is that when those downpours persist over the same areas, we're going to

02:12be dealing with a very significant flash flood risk.

02:14We're very concerned about this setup.

02:16And unfortunately, this is something that we're going to have to contend with over the

02:19next couple of years in Southern California because of those burn scars.

02:23All right.

02:24AccuWeather chief meteorologist Jonathan Porter.

02:25John, thanks for joining us here.

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