Rain follows record heat in Fresno. It could help Yosemite-area fires, but not the lightning
Chances for more rain in the Fresno area will continue into the early part of next week, bringing a reprieve from some record high temperatures just days prior.
There’s a 20% to 30% chance of slight showers continuing in Fresno through Tuesday night. Temperatures are expected to be in the 90s over the next few days and could drop into the 80s by midweek.
Fresno and other central San Joaquin Valley cities got trace amounts of rain Saturday morning before storms moved into the Sierra Nevada – a pattern that could repeat Sunday, said meteorologist Carlos Molina of the National Weather Service in Hanford.
Heavier precipitation was falling in the Sierra on Saturday afternoon, with Wawona in Yosemite National Park and areas around it getting some of the most significant rainfall. Rain is expected to weaken a couple of Yosemite wildfires that have been burning in the backcountry since last month, but might not be as effective on the more recent Fork Fire in the foothills of eastern Madera County.
The storms are moving pretty fast, Molina said, indicating they could be more of a “strong wind event rather than a heavy precipitation event.” He said sensors south of Yosemite were showing wind speeds at 40 to 45 mph on Saturday.
Lightning strikes potentially starting new wildfires is also a concern.
“Right now we’re kind of just sitting and waiting. Maybe between tomorrow and Monday we’ll see if there’s any additional fire starts,” Molina said Saturday afternoon, “because there have been quite a few lightning strikes occurring across the Sierra Nevada.”
While most of that lightning was in the mountains, a handful of strikes happened in the Fresno area on Saturday, Molina said, but the Valley experienced more thunder than lightning.
The rain Fresno received as of early Saturday afternoon was minimal: About 0.01 inches of precipitation. Clovis had just slightly more: 0.02.
More unusual weather might still hit the Valley.
“Cloud to ground lightning, small hail, and brief gusty winds will be possible in these storms,” the National Weather Service reported, singling out McFarland as one Valley town where hail could fall on Saturday afternoon.
Rain was more plentiful in the mountains. Some Sierra locations in the region are expected to receive between half an inch and three-quarters of an inch on both Saturday and Sunday. Molina said those areas include Wawona, Fish Camp, Bass Lake, Shaver Lake and Huntington Lake.
Flash flooding is also a concern for travelers headed to desert areas in Southern California or the Las Vegas area, he added.
