Will It Ever Rain Again in Southern California
An atmospheric river is forecast to deliver upwards to a foot of rain and anxiety of snow to California
Updated 1324 GMT (2124 HKT) Dec 14, 2021
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(CNN)As people continue picking up the pieces from this weekend'due south deadly tornado outbreak, a new tempest system is intensifying. This one is out West.
An atmospheric river -- a feather of wet, similar to a river, that streams in off the Pacific Body of water and brings farthermost rains -- is unleashing flooding rainfall of up to a pes and several feet of snow on the West Coast.
The tempest began in Washington this weekend, where information technology created unstable conditions and led to at to the lowest degree one avalanche in the region. Now it'south meandering downwards the coast, first soaking people in the Bay area Lord's day and now unleashing extreme rainfall on the central California coast.
San Francisco has already received more than 2 inches of rain with this system.
"Models indicate that an atmospheric river issue volition intensify through the early morning hours, resulting in heavy rainfall," the Weather Predictions Center said.
Information technology appears the steadiest and highest rainfall rates will exist concentrated along the Big Sur coast through the afternoon and evening hours, according to the National Weather Service part in San Francisco.
"Isolated amounts of 10-12 inches are possible for the college peaks," the San Francisco office said.
A Level 3 of 4 threat for extreme rainfall is in place for this region Monday. The organisation will keep its motility down the coast Mon night.
"All systems get for a potent and impactful storm to motility into southwest California later tonight and hang around through Tuesday," said the conditions office in Los Angeles, adding information technology expects 2 to three times more than rainfall than an October tempest that struck the region.
This storm could end up dropping 2 to 3 inches of rain downtown, the well-nigh rainfall the metropolis has seen for most a year. The last time the part recorded a storm total over an inch was in January.
"Heavy mountain snowfall and lowland rain will overspread California and the Dandy Basin today and Tuesday," the WPC tweeted. "Heavy snow is likely across much of the terrain, accumulating to six feet or more in parts of the Sierra Nevada. Mountain travel may become incommunicable."
Mount Shasta was already reporting more than than a foot of snowfall Monday morning.
Snow in the Sierra could fall at rates of 3 inches an hour or greater at times this evening into early Tuesday. This farthermost snow, combined with strong winds -- gusts of between 40 to 60 mph and 100 to 120 mph for exposed Sierra ridges -- volition produce whiteout conditions and potential highway closures, the Reno, Nevada, conditions service office said.
Wind advisories are in consequence for large portions of California, western Arizona, Nevada, southern Oregon, southwestern Idaho. Loftier current of air warnings are in effect for the Southern Coast Ranges, Transverse Ranges, and Peninsular Ranges of California, the Sierra Nevada of Nevada, and the Wyoming Basin.
The Reno office adds some of these heavy snow bands could be intense enough to create thundersnow.
"The heavy snow will exist a long-elapsing result over the Cascades, Sierra Nevada Mountains, and Northern Rockies," the Weather Prediction Center said.
The snow won't just be for the higher elevations. The Pacific Northwest and Northern California volition come across colder air moving in over the next twenty-four hour period.
"The snow levels will drop downwards to sea level over parts of the Pacific Northwest and down to the surface over parts of Northern California overnight Monday into Tuesday morning," the prediction center said.
The energy from this arrangement ultimately volition motility into the cardinal United states of america later on in the week, threatening to bring rain to the areas recently hit by the devastating tornadoes.
Deadly nocturnal tornadoes
Tales of survival and heroics are emerging from the rubble of this weekend's deadly tornadoes.
"Information technology happened and so fast," Kyanna Parsons-Perez told CNN, describing the onslaught of destruction after a tornado struck a Mayfield, Kentucky, candle factory. "We all simply rocked back and forth, and and so boom, everything fell on us."
CNN weather'southward special newsletter over this past weekend mentioned this storm could result in ane of the longest -- if not the longest -- tornado paths ever.
The National Weather Service will continue to survey the damage today and over the post-obit days. You lot can stay up to date with our alive coverage here.
A Dec swelter
Warmer temperatures are gripping the eastern half of the state. It may, in fact, experience more a like 'swelter weather' instead of 'sweater weather' in some places in the cardinal Usa. Loftier temperatures may soar every bit high as twenty to 40 degrees above average Tuesday and Midweek afternoon. Many temperature records are expected to be broken across the Plains.
Temperatures absurd dorsum down in the central US on Thursday every bit the storm system out West pushes through and milder weather condition slides into the Eastward Coast.
Those milder temps might make information technology more than enjoyable to go stargazing this week.
1 of the best showers of the year
If yous are up for staying up all dark, the Geminids will low-cal up the dark sky Monday night into Tuesday morning.
NASA calls this meteor shower "one of the best and most reliable" for its bright, fast and abundant meteors.
Your chances of a white Christmas
Don't blame the meteorologist. Arraign the Grinch besides known as climatic change, merely the probability of a white Christmas has gone downwards for many.
Use our interactive map to check the probability for your location hither.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/13/weather/california-storm-forecast-snow-rain-wxn/index.html