West facing a 1-2 punch of storms this week
Back-to-back storms will push through the West Coast this week — the first drenching the Pacific Northwest midweek, then a stronger storm will bring a flash flooding threat to California by the weekend.
LOS ANGELES – March came in like a lion across Southern California and is set to go out in a similar fashion as an atmospheric river storm aims at the region by the end of the week with the potential for flooding rain.
It’ll be the second storm to strike the West Coast this week. A first storm will roll through the Pacific Northwest late Wednesday into Thursday. Widespread rain will cover the Interstate 5 corridor, with 6-12 inches of snow possible in the higher elevations of the Washington and Oregon Cascades. For the lowlands, Seattle in Washington and Portland in Oregon have received less than half of their average rain for March, so this rain will be welcomed and get them closer to average.
The rain and snow will wind down across the Northwest and northern Rockies on Thursday night.
Next up: An atmospheric river storm for California
Once that storm moves out, a strong area of low pressure will develop off the Northern California coast on Friday and spend the entire weekend meandering off the coast, slowly sliding south toward Los Angeles.
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This storm will tap into some tropical moisture, generating an atmospheric river storm that will spin heavy rain into Central and Southern California Saturday and Sunday.
As much as 1-3 inches of rain will fall up and down the coast, with the flood threat peaking on Saturday across Southern California, including the Los Angeles Basin and San Diego area.
NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center is already placing much of Southern California in a Level 2 out of 4 risk for flash flooding on Saturday.
Up in California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range, a few feet of snow will add to the snowpack, which now sits at 101% of average statewide.
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“This has been one of the most remarkable snowpack recoveries we have seen in modern history in California,” the FOX Forecast Center said. “The statewide snowpack was a mere 28% of normal on Jan. 1 and 53% of normal on Feb. 1, before the storm train kicked into gear.”
Statewide chart showing recovery of snowpack in California this year. (FOX Weather)
Southern California is expected to dry out early next week as the storm track instead returns to the Pacific Northwest.
