2022-2023 California and Southwest Weather Thread

[NWbyNW]

The precipitation totals over the past 24hrs have been pretty amazing.  Expect flooding in the usual places.  I'm sure that will be the top story moving forward for a bit.  The mountains got the brunt of the rain, but that will need to go somewhere...

 

[weather_fan]

When does this end?

[Anti Marine Layer]

Front has moved through. 

[Anti Marine Layer]

9 minutes ago, weather_fan said:

When does this end?

When Portland gets a snowstorm.

[Anti Marine Layer]

Lotsawata 

[NWbyNW]

2 hours ago, weather_fan said:

When does this end?

Well you will have a break on Friday (I don't know where you live... but in general).  Then you have storms lined up for at least a week still. 

[Reg]

Had a burst of very heavy rain here about an hour ago, now it’s sunny. 0.73” since midnight.

[Reg]

Getting a rare burst of "sunny rain" right now. Most of the sky is cloudy again but the sun is shining on us through a small gap while rain comes down from above.

[NWbyNW]

This is great news for those in the Inland Empire and all agricultural regions.  Snow is coming down heavy in the mountains.  This snowpack will be useful if it sticks around till next summer.  The worst thing would be CA gets all this rain and snow, then it becomes exceptionally dry early like it did last year, just to have most of the snow already gone by the time farmers and the people need it. 

 

As expected, check pass info before you cross.  Traffic is bad seen here at Truckee heading into Donner Pass.  Snow is coming down. At the moment of typing this, Donner Pass (for example) is open, but very slow with several spin outs and accidents.

[Anti Marine Layer]

Cloudy and windy but it stopped raining for now. 

[Anti Marine Layer]

Where did the eye go?

[NWbyNW]

It's sad seeing all the damage and sad stories popping up from this storm. But there are also great examples of people coming together to help one another.  As for some more sad news though... The center portion of a well known pier in Santa Cruz has collapsed into the Pacific, while the ocean-facing end of it is seeing significant damage.   Other piers and wharfs have also collapsed along the California Coast.  Mission Fields is also being evacuated due to extreme safety concerns. 

 

 

For some positive news, power outages continue to decline across the state.  It now stands at around 110,000 without power, down from a high over just under 200,000. 

[NWbyNW]

1 minute ago, Mr Marine Layer said:

Where did the eye go?

It closed to not get sand in there. 

[NWbyNW]

I hope people take Friday to clean up and further prepare for the next hit from the storms.  The ground is just going to keep getting wetter and more waterlogged.  I mean we're already seeing over 5 inches of rain in the span of 24hrs for some places, and many have over 2 inches.

The strongest gusts seen yesterday were 106mph and one that I think was an error at 138mph near Oroville.  

 

 

 

Gov telling people what to do. ^  

[TigerWoodsLibido]

This barely missed out on being an ARKstorm. If only we had some Arctic air up here.

[Tyler Mode]

Looking much better already!

[Thunder98]

The final storm total for Orcutt is 1.72" since yesterday. Which is surprisingly more than what some rain gauges got in the Santa Barbara area! Water year to date total is now 10.69, which is 79% of the annual average. Next week alone should push it above average!

[NWbyNW]

Too bad the latest drought monitor update doesn't reflect the past few storms, but it will in the future.  Here it is showing the New Years-ish storms and we can see it has made a dent in the stubborn CA drought.

 

 

 

 

 

Power outages across the state continue to decline.  Now at around 70,000.  Down from the near 200k last night.  The biggest concentrations of outages are in Santa Cruz, Mendocino, Humbolt, and Sonoma Counties. 

[Anti Marine Layer]

Climate change whiplash

 

[Front Ranger]

After another strong storm over the weekend, all models are showing an even more intense one early next week. If we don't see some moderation in the precip being shown, that could create some much more serious problems than CA has seen so far.

Looking like a historically wet 2+ week period for many areas at the very least.

[NWbyNW]

Yep.  Been talking about that for a few pages.  It's going to be both a blessing and a curse.  It will help alleviate the drought conditions and fill up reservoirs, but flooding and damage will be significant.  We're just seeing the tip of the ice berg right now. 

I would be surprised if the weather doesn't moderate somewhat, especially the stuff furthest out on the models. 

[NWbyNW]

Down to 63,000 power outages in the state.  The biggest concentrations of outages are in Santa Cruz, Mendocino, Humbolt, and Sonoma Counties. 

[Anti Marine Layer]

Sun is out. Happy Epiphany 

[NWbyNW]

Northern California has until Monday morning to prepare for the next stronger storm to arrive.  This next one is going to cause massive flooding from the Bay Area northward and all through the valley.  30-40mph winds are expected, coming from the south and west as it blows northward.   Upwards of 5 inches of rain is expected for this next Monday storm.  I hope people are prepping now.  It will also rain this weekend throughout region, but not as much compared to the other day or what's coming Monday.  Tons of snow expected in the Sierra's too. 

Prepare!!

 

Very heavy rain totals throughout Northern California expected Monday.

[NWbyNW]

Wow, the latest update Jan 5, has increased totals a lot since the previous days recordings.

Shasta went up from 34% to 35%.

Oroville up from 39% t0 41%!!! Wow!  That's just one good dousing.

Millerton up to 79%, one full percentage point up. 

Sonoma from 33% to 36%!!!  

Good to see this. 

[Reg]

First clear, sunny day in a long while, since at least December 26. San Bernardino Mountains to the northeast are completely white.

[Anti Marine Layer]

Latest sunrise (in standard time) this weekend. 

[SpaceRace22]

The 06z NBM is downright scary. The models are somehow managing to trend even wetter. Over the next few weeks, is a very real chance that much of the state is going to see worse flooding than any of us have seen in our lifetimes. If the precip continues at the same rate it has been for another 30 days or so, that would likely be enough to match or even exceed 1862. People are not prepared for how horrific that would actually be. An 1862 repeat would legitimately be the worst natural disaster in American history.

[Reg]

Current season total about to surpass last year's at my station.

[Reg]

Low was 38F this morning, first time it dipped below 40F here in about two weeks.

[Anti Marine Layer]

More than 24 hours without any rain.

[Anti Marine Layer]

4 hours ago, SpaceRace22 said:

The 06z NBM is downright scary. The models are somehow managing to trend even wetter. Over the next few weeks, is a very real chance that much of the state is going to see worse flooding than any of us have seen in our lifetimes. If the precip continues at the same rate it has been for another 30 days or so, that would likely be enough to match or even exceed 1862. People are not prepared for how horrific that would actually be. An 1862 repeat would legitimately be the worst natural disaster in American history.

Central Valley may become a lake.

[Reg]

2 minutes ago, Mr Marine Layer said:

Central Valley may become a lake.

Lake Cahuilla used to exist. But, climate change and all. Just very old climate change and further south where the Salton Sea is now.

[Anti Marine Layer]

Soils are saturated.

[Anti Marine Layer]

Clouds moved in again for the afternoon. 

[Anti Marine Layer]

Another big storm headed our way. Latest sunrise in PST is this morning. 

[Anti Marine Layer]

It's an AR-o-rama.

[NWbyNW]

Last day to prepare before the never-ending California deluge begins.  

[Anti Marine Layer]

One more day of blue skies and golden sunshine before the rain starts up again.

[NWbyNW]

I didn't even think about looking, but the wind storm last night saw 40-60mph winds.  A 68mph was the high I could find north of Sacramento.  It knocked out power to over 300,000 people in the valley.  Sacramento County, San Joaquin, and Yolo Counties make up the brunt of the outages.  

Still 324,000 without power in Northern California and the big storm hasn't even hit yet.  That comes in tonight.  Oh my gosh, this could be days without power for some, not to mention the upcoming flooding.  My word.