Friday, December 21, 2012

Forecast Calls for Occasional Light Showers, Higher Snow Level

nationalweatherservicelogo[NWS] – A series of storm systems will bring wet weather at times through the holiday weekend.

The first system will focus on areas north of Point Conception Friday night into Saturday, bringing gusty south to southwest winds and rainfall amounts generally between one-quarter and 1 inch.

The cold front is expected to weaken as it moves slowly south of Point Conception, with light rain becoming less likely across Ventura and Los Angeles Saturday night, generally 0.15 inches or less.

Snow levels through Saturday night are expected to remain above 5,500 feet. (The snow level dipped locally to 3,500 feet last weekend.)

A chance of light showers will linger Sunday in advance of a second and somewhat stronger cold front.

It appears that steady rain with this second system will arrive over the Central Coast on Sunday evening, reaching the Los Angeles basin by early Monday morning. This will be a fairly fast-moving system, and rain will end during Monday afternoon.

Rainfall estimates with this second system are expected to range between one-third and 1 inch, with the highest amounts once again focused across San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties.

Locally higher rainfall totals up to 1.5 inches will be possible across south- and southwest-facing slopes of the local mountains. Snow levels will once again remain relatively high, generally above 6,000 feet, with moderate accumulations possible above 7,000 feet.

Dry conditions are forecast for Christmas Eve night and Christmas day. However, a third system will bring another chance of rain to the area late Wednesday into early Thursday. This storm has the potential to produce similar rainfall totalw as the storm Sunday night and Monday.


Forecast Calls for Occasional Light Showers, Higher Snow Level