Rain, snow and wind across Northern California, Christmas day isn’t looking too promising either.

High wind warnings will remain in effect through 2pm this afternoon.  The National Weather Service is expecting gusts to 60 possible, Redding has seen a peak gust of 52mph, and Red Bluff 48 throughout the day.  These winds will subside in the early afternoon, but be careful on the roads.  The winter storm warning is for areas above 4500 feet and in in effect through 10pm tonight.  Some areas could see an additional 1-3 feet of snow out of this system.

The strong system will bring heavy rain to the valley and snow to the mountains.  We’re already seeing gusts over 40mph in Redding and Red Bluff and several areas in the mountains have near blizzard conditions.  Snow levels are as low as 3000 feet and it is snowing heavily in Shingletown right now.   The good news is that the temperatures will steadily warm with this system and the snow levels will correspondingly begin to rise throughout the day.  As the front moves through our area we’ll see the skies clear out and the winds drop off.  That will allow for some isolated thunderstorms to pop up in favored areas.  The Chico area could see a few isolated thunderstorms today in addition to areas just north of Redding. 

If you don’t like the wind and rain, you just have to make it through today.  Monday will be our welcome break from all the nasty weather, with mostly sunny skies returning and light winds.  We’ll still be under the influence of an arctic low, so don’t expect temperatures to rise much above 45 or so in the valley.  Closer to the upper 30’s in the mountains.  But as always, good things don’t last…another storm is moving in for Christmas, and we could be talking about more snow in the valley.  We’ll be keeping a very close eye on these storms as they happen.

For up to the minute weather info follow me on Twitter @ColdFrontCarlo and to get in on the conversation “Like” me on Facebook: Meteorologist Carlo Falco.

And be sure to tune in tonight for your full forecast at 5:30, 6:30 and 11, on the KRCR Channel 7 News.