STORMY SKIES, BUT DRY DAYS
Unsettled weather as 2020 comes to a close in two days
After a few light showers to start this final week of 2020, dry weather will be returning to bring in the new year.
The rain isn’t expected to start falling until later Wednesday night and into early Thursday, but then it will be dry on Friday, according to early predictions by the National Weather Service for the Sacramento Valley region.
The Sierra, however, could continue to see snows, leading to continued chain controls on Interstate 80 over Donner Summit. That new snow will be in addition to an existing 2 inches at Donner Pass and up to 3 inches at Echo Pass that fell over the past weekend.
Overall, for the region, the light showers are expected to provide less than a tenth of an inch of rain, while South Lake Tahoe could see up to a quarter inch. That tenth of an inch is about the same amount that fell across the region last Saturday.
Regional temperatures, meanwhile, dipped down toward the mid- 30s Monday morning. The rest of the week, forecasters say daytime highs will consistently range between the low 50s to low 60s with Tuesday, Friday and Saturday being on the warmer end of that spectrum.
Overnight lows will vary from the low 30s to mid- 40s with Tuesday and Wednesday morning being the chilliest. Some areas may drop into the 27 to 29- degree range on those days “with areas of frost as a bonus,” forecasters say.
Meanwhile, Southern California was having a much harder time of it with the first significant storm of the season.
Lightning flashed and thunder sounded as the storm front swept across the region in the middle of Sunday night, unleashing downpours followed by bands of rain that continued through the Monday afternoon.
“The good news was the front was moving quickly which prevented any serious flooding from occurring,” the National Weather Service‘ s Los Angeles region office said.
Localized roadway flooding and many traffic accidents were reported, and authorities along the coast cautioned potential beachgoers that water would likely be contaminated by bacteria, chemicals and trash washed down drains, creeks and rivers.
Firefighters used an inflatable boat to rescue a man and woman stranded by stormwater on a small island in the middle of the Los Angeles River in the Atwater Village area north of downtown. A passerby spotted the pair, who apparently lived on the island.
Even the Bay Area will receive more rainfall than the Sacramento Valley. About a quarter of an inch of rain was recorded in San Jose overnight Sunday as the storm system from the central coast made its way north toward the Bay Area, the National Weather Service says.
But after the rains dissipated Monday morning, meteorologist Cindy Palmer said she expects dry conditions and seasonable temperatures right around normal through almost the remainder of the year, with a potential for light showers coming New Year's Eve.
Palmer said the system will bring widespread rain to primary the southern portion of the forecast area which is mostly over Monterey County, where the Dolan Fire burn scar — a burnt up area of about 200 square miles — could see significant rainfall.
It likely won't be enough to cause any debris flow, Palmer added, though forecasters are still keeping a close eye on rain totals. The heaviest rain will fall between 10 p. m. and 4 a. m. in those areas.
“Right now we're not anticipating the potential for any debris flow as rainfall rates will not be strong enough,” Palmer said. “The further north you go the less precipitation you're likely to get.”
About a quarter of an inch of rain was recorded in San Jose overnight Sunday.