More snow and rain are on the way for the Southwest with another round of storms this Thursday.
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00:00 Our top story tonight is taking us to California, where there is another storm working its way
00:04 through the state and yes, it is bringing more rain and snow. And while it seems like these
00:09 storms continue to be coming all at once, it's not uncommon. AccuWeather California expert Ken
00:15 Clark explains. It was a sleeper kind of start to the season, but that's not unusual for an
00:20 El Nino type year. Typically it's a late starter, late December or starts in January for the biggest
00:27 rainfall. That's what we've seen with this and the snow as well. We've gone from an average of about
00:32 28 percent of normal at January 1st for the snow covering the Sierra. Now we're up to 75 percent
00:40 of the historical average. So quite a big increase just in a month. Yeah, we've really pushed that
00:46 snow level up and that snow pack up, which is great news if you want to keep California out
00:51 of drought. Let's talk about what we have moving forward. So as we open up the big board, we're
00:56 going to check in on a couple locations. First up, let's go to San Francisco. The view here coming in
01:01 with some sunshine breaking through those clouds. We're getting more and more daylight. That's nice
01:06 this time of year, but we are still talking about the stormy weather in place here around San
01:11 Francisco and across California. And that's partly because the second wave is sliding its way on
01:16 through. And actually you'll note it's circulating here. So this is the second wave. The first storm
01:22 system is working its way through the four corners. And so as both of these storm systems
01:27 push their way on east, it will provide some changes for us in the upcoming hours as far as
01:32 what we're going to be dealing with on the ground in many locations. We do have a lot of reports
01:37 coming in from the storm system. You can see most of that in the western U.S. There's the snow
01:42 reports, the rain reports, still some flooding reports coming in from southern California. And
01:46 like I said, we're getting set for that second wave to work its way back in. So we take you into
01:53 your Thursday. The first wave pushing its way on through. Second wave still trying to drop its way
01:58 on south into southern California. That's where we're going to pick up on more of that moisture
02:03 as we follow these storm system working their way on east. First off though, the snowfall totals
02:08 still piling up beyond California. We're talking about Arizona, Nevada, portions of the four
02:14 corners too. We picked up more than two feet of snow in some locations. Places like Flagstaff
02:20 still calculating that snow as they are on the track to hit one to two feet of snow according
02:26 to the AccuWeather forecast. And that's again from the first wave that's moving out. The second one
02:30 diving in as we go through now into tomorrow. And this provides more rain for the Golden State
02:37 and the chance for more mountain snow. Snowfall by the way is not just going to be completely
02:43 restricted to the mountains. In southern California we will have some of the past snow possible. Cajon
02:48 Pass looking at one to two inches. Tahoe and the Grapevine two to four inches of snow. So if you're
02:54 expecting to travel sometime tonight, more so into tomorrow morning, there's going to be some
03:00 challenges through some of those passes in southern California. Here's what it looks like upcoming
03:04 hours. You can see that kick of moisture still cutting its way into places like Los Angeles and
03:09 San Diego heading into the evening hours. As this storm system slides east, there's still going to
03:14 be some lingering rain and snow showers tomorrow morning. So that's what can help slow down some
03:19 of the travel through some of those mountain passes. Then the core of this storm system is
03:23 working its way into Arizona and across the four corners as we get into Thursday evening,
03:28 leaving California a little bit drier by the time we get into Friday morning. And Friday does look
03:34 to be a largely dry day across the Golden State. There still will be some showery weather on the
03:39 northern side, but for the most part, places like Los Angeles getting some sunshine back in the lower
03:44 60s. 33 though in Cedar City as we get the snow there. Snowfall totals from the second storm
03:50 system will be mostly one to three in a lot of locations. A little bit more will be squeezed out
03:56 for some of the plains as it takes a more southerly route.