More clouds on Lodi horizon after week of heavy storms

Last week’s storms brought a flood of water to Northern California — in some places, literally. Several levees were leaking or breaking in the Lodi area as the weather dried up on Monday.

Lodi’s not quite out of the woods yet, either. More rain is coming, and while meteorologists hope the storms won’t bring more flooding, it’s definitely a concern.

“We’re going to have a series of storms moving into the Pacific Northwest, and then down into California toward the middle of the week,” said Alyson Hoegg, a meteorologist with the private weather forecasting firm Accuweather.com.

Rain will probably begin in the afternoon hours on Wednesday, and carry into the early morning hours of Thursday, she said.

Thursday should offer a short break, but the rain looks likely to resume that evening.

“This actually lasts through the day Friday and probably into Friday night as well,” Hoegg said.

Between Wednesday and Saturday morning, the Lodi area can expect between 1 and 3 inches of rain, she said.

And there may be still more water after that.

“We see another round of rain (potentially) coming in on Sunday and maybe even into Monday as well,” Hoegg said.

The storms hitting Lodi this week and early next week should deliver a little less water than the last batch, she said.

But that’s not true in other areas. The foothills could see 3 to 6 inches of rain over four days, she said.

That water could flow into rivers that pass through the Valley on their way to the coast.

The extra water may not cause any new problems for the Lodi area, but it can’t hurt to be prepared.

“The ground is saturated at this point,” Hoegg pointed out.

The high Sierras are likely to be hit worse, though. The Donner Pass region is looking at a possible 2 to 3 feet of snow, and the mountains

are likely to see plenty of rain below the snow line, Hoegg said.

Anyone who plans to travel up to the area should take precautions in case they get stranded, she said. That means packing food, plenty of water, and blankets. They should also try to plan their traveling so they’re indoors on Sunday.

“Sunday does not look like a day that people should be traveling into the Sierra,” she said.

Lodi has already recorded a whopping 8.12 inches of rain in January alone, and 17.17 inches for the rainfall season beginning July 1. The normal rainfall this time of year? About 1.75 inches for the month and just over 8 inches for the season.

As of last season — Jan. 16, 2016 — Lodi had only seen 3.72 inches of rain.

A break in the line of storms is expected next week.

“I do think by the early to middle portion of next week, we will enter into another dry period,” Hoegg said. It could last from Tuesday through Thursday, and maybe even through the weekend. But it’s not a done deal. “I wouldn’t promise anything right now,” she said.