Two New Storms To Soak California This Week

Two New Storms To Soak California This Week

Two new storms will descend on California this week, further adding to rainfall totals in the suddenly waterlogged Golden State, and increasing the risk of mudslides and debris flows for a second straight week.

Although the storm will not be as powerful as last week’s drencher, which dropped three-and-a-half inches of rain on San Francisco and caused travel problems from the Bay Area to Orange County, the risk of mudslides will increase with the arrival of the new storm system on Monday.

“This next Pacific storm looks less severe than the previous storm,” storm warning meteorologist Alex Avalos told Accuweather.com. However, Avalos added, “heavy rain will pose the threat for mudslides in the higher elevations where loose soil from the previous event and burn scars are prevalent.”

The report predicts “intense” rain will arrive in San Francisco beginning Monday night and continuing into Tuesday, with forecasters predicting between one and three inches of rainfall for the city. The rain will then push down into Los Angeles and San Diego late Monday night and into Tuesday. 

“Most regions will get 1 to 3 inches of rainfall, with any accumulating snow generally above 5,000 feet,” Avalos told Accuweather.

Forecasters believe this storm could last for a longer duration than last week’s because a “pulse of energy” is expected to hit the system Wednesday. The storm could also reportedly drop up to a foot of snow on parts of the Sierra Nevada mountains. While high winds will accompany the storm, the report notes that widespread power outages, like those of last week, are not likely to occur. 

A second storm is expected to arrive later in the week, originating in Washington and Oregon and reaching Northern California by Friday night into Saturday. 

Last week’s storm finally offered forecasters and concerned water officials a glimpse of a path out of the state’s historic drought; Northern California received between 3-6 inches of rain, and Southern California got between 1-3 inches, more rainfall than either region had seen in some time.

“More rain has fallen this past week than most places had for the entire winter last year,” weather expert Ken Clark told Accuweather.

Photo: File

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