Significant storm headed to Valley. What will it bring for Bulldogs game, marathon?
It will be cold Saturday night for the Fresno State Bulldogs football game against Hawaii and then again on Sunday morning for the Two Cities Marathon, but a significant storm headed for the Sierra Nevada should not impact either of the major sporting events on the calendar this weekend.
The game-time temperature at kickoff when the Bulldogs get after a fourth win in a row is forecast for 59 degrees, with some gusty winds to 10 to 15 mph. The average high in Fresno on Nov. 6 when the marathon will be run is 70 degrees, but it is not expected to top 60 this year, which is right in the wheelhouse for some fast times; according to one study the ideal temperature to run a marathon is between 50 and 62 degrees.
But, later Sunday, the weather will change rapidly and the San Joaquin Valley could see 1.5 to 2 inches of rain through the middle of the week.
“It’s looking pretty impressive,” said Jeffrey Barlow, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Hanford. “It’s going to be what we consider a complex storm system. It’s going to last from Sunday night to Wednesday night. It’s going to be unsettled with periods of rain, not continuous rain, and then it will stop raining for a few hours and we’ll have another come in and produce more rain.
“The first one is coming in on Sunday evening. We have a slight chance of some showers on Saturday night and 40% on Sunday, but the timing looks like it will be moving in on Sunday afternoon.”
There is a 70% chance of rain on Sunday night and 90% on Monday. The second wave will come in on Monday night, with an 80% chance of rain on Monday night, Tuesday and Tuesday night.
“There are two pretty big systems that are going to be moving through,” Barlow said. “Storm totals right now, with the first one we could see anywhere from one-tenth to a half an inch of rain. With the second one we could see maybe an inch and a quarter. That second one looks a lot stronger.”
The weather is expected to clear toward the end of the week for the Veterans Day weekend.
This story was originally published November 4, 2022 at 5:48 PM.