Major storm moving toward Fresno area. Here’s when it’s expected and how much rain

An early-season storm front moving into the central San Joaquin Valley on Sunday night is expected to bring up to one inch of rain to the Fresno area and between three to five feet of snow to the Sierra Nevada.

While the wet weather is great news for the region, it also carries a caution: Andy Bollenbacher of the National Weather Service in Hanford said it may cause problems, possibly mud slides, in the fire-scarred region where the Creek Fire destroyed vegetation in the Sierra National Forrest in the fall of 2020, so residents in the area should be on alert.

Earlier this month, the Fresno area got about a half-inch of rain and the foothills and mountains areas more from a storm.

It’s early in the year for such weather, said Bollenbacher, who added that most of the precipitation would hit the region between Sunday night and Monday morning, and would also carry about two inches of rainfall to the the foothills.

The weather front will be driven by a low-pressure area in the region, which will allow a Pacific Ocean weather front to move in front the southwest. The main band of the front will be about 150 miles wide and will move through in a 36- to 48-hour time span.

This story was originally published October 19, 2021 at 2:19 PM.