Moisture Adding to Snowpack, Providing Benefits to Drought-Stricken Region

Posted: December 9, 2022 10:02 am

A slew of winter weather advisories are in effect for a large part of Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and Northern California beginning on Thursday as two storms begin to move into the West from the Pacific Ocean. While the duo of storms will certainly create some travel difficulties, the precipitation will be a welcome sight for the drought-stricken region hoping to build the snowpack levels in the coming months.

What to Expect for Moisture

Snow is forecast to fall across the eastern and central portions of Oregon and Washington by Thursday afternoon. It will be moisture falling as rain throughout the coastal areas of the region as well as in Northern California.

Most areas under the gun for snow will only see slight accumulations with a general 1 to 3 inches in the forecast for late Thursday and into Friday. Northern California’s Siskiyou Range is predicted to see up to 6 inches of snow by Thursday afternoon local time.

The first storm will track to the south by late Thursday, bringing the snow threat into the Sierra Nevada. The hardest hit areas of the Siskiyou Range and the Sierra Nevada may see up to a foot of snow by the time the sun comes up Friday.

Details of Second Storm System

The moisture will let up early Friday, however, the break will be short-lived. The second of the pair of storms is predicted to move onshore late Friday with the first impacts falling as rain along the coastal areas of Washington and Oregon.

This second storm is forecast to bring a walloping of snow to the Sierra Nevada. This part of the region is already measuring seasonable snowpack up to 175% of normal. Climatologists say that this increasing snowpack is critical in building moisture reserves for the drier spring and summer months. The winter snow is an essential tool in improving moisture in the soil in addition to increasing water levels in all of the bodies of water.

Despite the rapidly building snowpack over the last month of the Sierra Nevada, the state of California is still in the throes of drought. Some of the worst of the drought conditions in the West are across the Colorado River basin. This is where meteorologists are hopeful that this week’s storms will drop moisture.

Impacts of Storms to Region

Forecasters are warning that travel over Interstate 80 in the higher terrains may become treacherous during the worst of the conditions. In addition to slippery roads, reduced visibility due to blowing snow could make travel impossible.

The timing of the second storm is predicted to whip up through the Pacific Northwest late Friday. This precipitation will then move into northern and central California on Saturday with the expectation that it continues through the weekend.

The Bay Area is forecast to see up to 2 inches of rain beginning on Saturday afternoon and sticking around through the end of the weekend. The rain will eventually move into Southern California as the jet stream dips to the south. Although the rain will not be the magnitude expected in Northern California, it will still be enough to provide significant benefits to an area dealing with the ongoing drought.

For instance, the Los Angeles Basin is forecast to see up to an inch of rain. This would equal about half of the city’s normal rainfall in December in a period of 48 hours.

You also cannot rule out the threat of thunderstorms in Southern California throughout the weekend. Heavy rain is forecast for San Diego on Saturday night with sporadic showers hanging around through Sunday. You have to go back over a month to November 7 and 8 to find the last meaningful rainfall in the San Diego area.

The normal rainfall across the entirety of the month of December for San Diego is 1.67 inches. This system is predicted to bring 0.50 of an inch to 1 inch.

Looking ahead, a calmer weather pattern is forecast for the West by Monday. The mass amounts of moisture left from the duo of storms will then move over the Rockies and into the central U.S. by Tuesday.

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