Heavy rain and snow could hit California over Christmas, risking flooding, landslides and bad travel
Heavy rain and snow could hit California in time for Christmas, ending the state’s long drought.
There is a high risk of heavy rain along the entire California coast between Dec. 23 to Christmas Day, said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center. There is also a high risk of heavy snow near the Sierra Nevada.
The rain will be caused by tropical storms, which hit the Pacific Northwest earlier this month, causing flooding and evacuations.
The Climate Prediction Center has warned of possible floods, landslides and difficult travel conditions on mountain trails. Areas at risk include recently burned areas, which can see rapid flows of mud and debris. Strong winds and heavy rain or snow could cause power outages, officials said.
“Virtually all cluster projections bring widespread rain sometime in the Dec. 23-26 window, which will have an impact on the busy Christmas holiday season,” said the National Weather Service in Oxnard, which issues forecasts for Los Angeles County.
About 1 in 5 forecasts call for a severe storm with total rainfall of 4 inches or more. It’s too early for a definitive forecast, however, and things could change, “but if nothing else, be prepared for at least some rain by Christmas,” the weather service said.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center predicts a high risk of heavy rain along much of California’s coast between Dec. 23 and Dec. 25.
(Weather forecasting agency)
But until then, conditions should remain dry this week, with warmer-than-normal temperatures across the South. High temperatures are expected to range from 75 to 85 degrees during the week, which is 10 to 20 degrees above normal, the weather bureau in Oxnard said.
Temperatures could reach 77 degrees in Anaheim on Tuesday, 78 in Escondido, 81 degrees in Ontario, 82 degrees in Riverside and 83 in San Bernardino. Even Big Bear Lake is expected to see a high of 65 degrees.
Winds in Southern California may pick up during the week, affected by storm systems approaching Northern California. Winds could be from the north and northeast, with gusts as high as 50 mph in some north-south directions, such as the Grapevine portion of Interstate 5, the Santa Monica Mountains, the Santa Susana Mountains and the Santa Ynez Range.
Winds could blow into the valleys, as well as the Los Angeles Basin and the Malibu area. “Thankfully, with the recent rains, the risk of large fires is really low, but we could see some isolated tree damage and power outages as a result,” the Oxnard weather service office said.
Unlike Southern California, Northern California may start seeing rain and snow this week.
The North Coast is expected to receive more rain, with the heaviest rain in Humboldt and El Norte counties. Through Wednesday, 1 to 1.5 inches were expected in the Fort Bragg area, 1.5 to 2 inches in the Eureka area and 2 to 3 inches in the Crescent City. Forecasters have warned that there is a possibility of rocks and mud.
The San Francisco Bay Area is expected to see less rain this week, with perhaps one-tenth of an inch of rain in San Francisco Tuesday through Wednesday, and perhaps half an inch to 1 inch by late Wednesday and Saturday.
This week is not expected to bring much snow to the Lake Tahoe area. By midweek, snow levels are expected to remain at about 9,000 feet above sea level, preventing up to 4 inches of snowfall – in the highest parts of the Sierra, the weather office in Reno said. But winds could be strong, with gusts reaching 100 mph Wednesday morning, and travel could be difficult on routes like US 395, the main route between Mammoth Mountain and Southern California.
The weather is expected to change in the Bay Area on Sunday, when a series of storms that could pass through Christmas begins. The weather bureau in Monterey, which issues forecasts for the Bay Area, warned that heavy rain during the week of Christmas could cause flooded roads and streams and could disrupt holiday travel.
How heavy the rain will be in different parts of California depends on the exact path of the river in the atmosphere as it heads into California’s Christmas week.
“Exact time and prices are not clear yet – keep checking back!” said the weather office in Monterey.
After heavy rains in mid-October and mid-November, the skies are dry over much of the region. The last time the city of Los Angeles saw any rain was November 21; in San Francisco, it was November 20.
Parts of the slopes are barren at Snow Summit on Dec 4. at Big Bear Lake. Low snow levels have delayed the opening of Southern California ski resorts.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
California ski resorts have been complaining about warm temperatures and a lack of natural snow so far this season. Some skiers were hoping for a Christmas miracle.
Storms expected to arrive on Dec. 23 “could drop a lot of snow if the forecast continues, and this is the Christmas miracle that many forecasters are focusing on,” the Palisades Tahoe weather blog said Monday. “We will continue to monitor trends as this period moves from the dream zone to the one-week window at the end of this week. That will increase confidence in major snowstorms if current forecasts hold.”
