With more heavy rain headed to Fresno and snow to Sierra, here’s latest from forecasters
Fresno will kick off a new week with increasingly heavy rain, prompting meteorologists to encourage residents to get errands done over the weekend before the biggest storms roll in.
The coming, larger system is expected to drop about three inches of rain on the Fresno area, National Weather Service Meteorologist Jeff Barlow said.
Areas of the Sierra near Shaver Lake are expected to get around eight inches of snow, Barlow said.
While the storm won’t be a drought buster, it will put Fresno’s rain total ahead of last year and the normal rain total for this time of year.
“It’s obviously good. It’s not a drought buster,” Barlow said. “We would need a couple more years of these. Unfortunately, we’ve been in extreme drought conditions for three years now.”
Lighter rain will begin to fall late Saturday and into Sunday. Fresno will see a bit of a break Sunday afternoon before a bigger, wetter system rolls in. Light snow will fall in the Sierra around the same time.
The more significant rain event will begin late Sunday and last until late Tuesday.
Get ready to be drenched Monday and Tuesday: That system will continuously drop water, a total of around three inches.
Barlow said that system will be significantly wetter because it will tap into the subtropical moisture in what’s called an atmospheric river. That will have two effects, Barlow said. First, it increases the amount of rain on the Valley floor. Secondly, it raises the snow line in the mountains.
The Sierra already has an established snow pack this year, Barlow said, so the rain will cause rivers and streams to rise quickly. The atmospheric river will drop about 7.5 inches of rain near Shaver Lake. The rain will turn to snow again toward the end of the storm.
“A lot of that snow will get melted by the rain,” Barlow said.
Fresno, during its rainy season from October to April, typically receives around 11 inches of rain. So far this year, Fresno already has received more than six inches, significantly more than usual for this time of year.
The central San Joaquin Valley will get a few dry days before another, stronger storm system travels this way next weekend.
Barlow recommended people stay home during the weather event, if possible. If residents do have to drive, he warned against driving through standing water. He also said rock and mudslides may occur in the mountains.