Valley to see more gray, more chill – and more rain and snow

Central California will get one more day of gray, chilly weather before another string of storms sweeps through the sodden region, adding to an already wet year.

The National Weather Service says the region will be shrouded in clouds Tuesday, with Fresno’s daytime high expected to remain in the mid-40s.

Wednesday, however, will see daytime temperatures approach 60 in Fresno, with more cloudy skies and rain likely by that night, according to the weather service’s Hanford office.

In the Sierra, the snow level is expected to hover around the 7,000- to 8,000-foot level Wednesday evening, dropping to about 4,000 to 5,000 feet by Thursday afternoon.

Two more storms are expected to arrive by the weekend – one on Friday, and another again late Sunday or early Monday. Those storms are expected to bring a healthy dose of precipitation, and be colder, with snow levels dropping as low as 2,000 feet, the weather service said.

Halfway through January, Fresno’s rainfall total is 3.86 inches – nearly four times what it normally is (1.09 inches) for this time of the month. Since the start of the rain year on Oct. 1, Fresno has recorded 8.42 inches of rain, about 85 percent more than the 4.56 it normally has by this time.

This story was originally published January 16, 2017 at 4:35 PM with the headline "Valley to see more gray, more chill – and more rain and snow."