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.
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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.