Western US to get soaked by storms next week

AccuWeather

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.

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00:00We've needed the rain in California.

00:02We got off to such a bad start in Southern California.

00:05We've been okay in Central and Northern California.

00:08And we've gotten some rain so far this weekend.

00:12Kind of use the rainfall of what we've seen

00:14over the last couple of days in Southern California.

00:17Hasn't been a lot, but we've had some.

00:20We've had some and it's helped some,

00:22especially across the Northern portion

00:24of Southern California, LA, Basin, Inland Empire areas.

00:28San Diego got some rain,

00:29but they're so way, way behind

00:31a historical average down there.

00:32But it's better than it was back in mid January.

00:35We were at three, 4% of historical average back then.

00:38Now we're in the 25 to 55% range.

00:41So it's better off now,

00:42but we're gonna improve those numbers next week.

00:44Yeah, let's take a look at this.

00:46Can I have both storms highlighted?

00:49And certainly you could see the early week storm

00:52and then you could see the late week storm.

00:54The later week storm, Wednesday, Thursday,

00:57that's the one East of Japan.

00:58That's certainly right now appears to be the wetter

01:01and the stronger of the two,

01:02but both storms have a lot of colder air with them.

01:07They're both gonna be cold storms.

01:09The first one is gonna be mainly impacting

01:12Southern California from Point Conception on South.

01:14It's not gonna be a big rain or snow producer,

01:17but a quarter to maybe a half an inch of rain

01:19South of Point Conception,

01:20maybe more in San Diego than LA, who knows.

01:23But a little bit of snow in the mountains too

01:25for Jackie and Shadow.

01:26They're gonna have to keep the egg nice and warm.

01:29It still hasn't hatched and the chicks also nice and warm.

01:32Second storm, much, much bigger, much stronger,

01:36much more dynamics.

01:38We're gonna have feet of snow in this year,

01:41three to six feet in this year above 5,000 feet,

01:44maybe a foot to three feet down to 3,500 feet,

01:48one to two feet of snow in the Southern California mountains,

01:51one to two inches statewide in rainfall on average

01:54with some of the upslope areas

01:56getting maybe as much as four or five inches of rain.

01:58And all the problems that will entice

02:01is we're gonna have travel problems

02:03and we have a moderate to maybe even a high chance

02:07of some debris flows in those burned areas.

02:09So you think, Ken, in this,

02:11I was thinking maybe two or three inches across the base

02:14and you think it's more like maybe one to two,

02:16two to four in the foothills, like numbers like that?

02:20No, I can see the places like Eaton

02:22and the Palisades area getting two to three inches of rain,

02:26like you said, maybe as much as four in some spots.

02:29They're in a favored area there.

02:32And one to two inches statewide on average,

02:35but there are gonna be some areas which will get more.

02:39Details of the exact rain amounts

02:41and where their highest is gonna be,

02:43a little bit uncertain right now

02:44because it is just Friday

02:46and we're talking next Tuesday to Thursday and Friday.

02:50So we don't wanna get stuck too much

02:52on the exact rain amounts,

02:54but significant rain amounts statewide

02:57and potentially some potential problems

03:00in Southern California with debris flows.

03:02Really quickly, Ken,

03:03we were way behind in the Southern Sierra snowpack.

03:08And even in the Central, we were a little behind.

03:10We've made it some ground

03:12and maybe by the end of this storm,

03:14we'll get a little closer to the historical average

03:17in the Central and Southern Sierra?

03:19Yeah, I think that those numbers now

03:21are up to about mid-70s Central and South.

03:25Central dropped down a little bit

03:26because we're supposed to get a lot of snow

03:28this time of year.

03:29Those dropped down a little bit.

03:30South came up some,

03:32but we're looking at a great improvement in those numbers

03:35even as we get through next week.

03:37We're gonna see probably 80 plus percent

03:40normal amount of snowpack.

03:44All right, Accuweather California expert,

03:46meteorologist Ken Clark, 50 years and counting.

03:50Nobody knows California best, better than Ken.

03:54Ken, have a great weekend.

03:56Have a great weekend yourself.

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