Rain in forecast for Central Valley Thursday

Rain is back in the forecast for the Valley floor and snow in the mountains, according to Weatherag forecasters. There’s also a chance fog may set in this weekend.

The best chance of rain is Thursday with light showers Friday morning. An abundance of subtropical moisture is in the Pacific, west of California, stated Scott Borgiolo, Weatherag chief meteorologist. It is currently being directed at Northern California, but the cold front will eventually push though the state on Thursday.

Parts of the Valley could receive anywhere from a tenth of an inch to a third of an inch of rain on Thursday.

“Valley locations east of Highway 99 stand to receive the most rain from this event,” Borgioli said.

Valley locations near the foothills could receive up to half of an inch or rain, Borgioli stated. Foothill locations may see between 1-2 inches of rain and up to 3 inches in the mountains.

Local mountain snow levels will gradually lower to 6,500-7,000 feet Thursday afternoon and could get down to 6,000 feet Thursday night into Friday.

“Total snow amounts will vary from 3-6 inches up to nearly a foot in some spots,” Borgioli said.

Winds will be gusty over the mountains and passes with gusts 40-50 mph in spots.

“In the Valley, we could see a few gusts of wind to 20 mph on Thursday, mainly in the afternoon and evening,” Borgioli said.

There exists the possibility of lingering light Valley showers Friday morning, but it should be dry from Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon. Partly cloudy skies are expected Friday and mostly clear with just some passing clouds Saturday.

Any amount of precipitation would be welcomed at this point. The last round of storms dropped some rain on the southern Valley foothills and mountains, but nothing measurable. Porterville averages .84 inches of rainfall this time of year, but has not recorded any rain this season.

High temps Thursday will be in the mid to upper 60’s, then fall to around 60 on Friday. Lows Thursday night will mostly be between the low and mid 40’s.

Friday night, if the clouds clear out, lows can dip into the mid and upper 30’s in the rural areas to around 40/low 40’s in the

cities and there could be some patchy fog. Some of the typically colder rural areas may have the potential to see some frost and lows near freezing, but this is highly dependent on clouds clearing and calm winds. High temps Saturday will be in the low to mid 60’s, then around the mid 60’s Sunday. Low temps Saturday night have the potential to dip into the low and mid 30’s across the rural areas and upper 30’s to low 40’s in the cities. At this time it looks like Sunday night all valley areas should have lows above 40 degrees.

Fog may form as early as Saturday morning and also Sunday morning.

“In fact, there will probably be enough moisture on the ground to have areas of dense fog with late clearing times if conditions align just right,” he said.

Looking to next week, models bring the next system into the Valley on Sunday evening or into Monday. This system could bring rainfall across the entire state.

Another system may arrive around Thanksgiving day, as models currently project a system bringing precipitation into at least the northern portions of Southern California.