Weather Forecast: Much More Rain On The Way
Redding, Chico, Red Bluff
By Mike Krueger
The first in a series of storms arrived today but only brought about a half of an inch to an inch of rain in the valley. The winds didn’t quite materialize as expected but Chico did see a peak gust of 24 mph. The winds, however, will be much stronger on Thursday and Friday which is why the National Weather Service has issued a Wind Advisory for most of the Northstate through Friday morning. The winds are expected to be blowing from the south at 20 to 30 mph with gusts between 40 and 50 mph. With an already saturated ground we could see downed trees and power lines leading to power outages.
Although we did receive a report of snow as low as 4500 feet in Chester the snow levels are expected to rise the rest of the day and into the evening hours as the warmer sub-tropical moisture/air begins to move in. That being said, there is still a Winter Weather Storm Warning for the mountains east of the valley from 4pm Thursday until 4pm Friday for elevations above 7000 feet.
We’ll start the day on Thursday with light showers before the heavier and steadier rain moves over the Northstate. The forecast models have been fairly consistent in focusing most of the storm’s energy over eastern Butte and Plumas counties Thursday afternoon through most of the day on Friday. We are fairly confident that this area could be looking at about 24 hours of steady moderate to heavy rain and will be the most susceptible to flooding. We are seeing signs of 8 to 10 inches of rain in a matter of 24 hours which doesn’t include what we saw today and will see over the weekend.
Another area that we will be watching closely is North Redding and just north and west of Redding. With strong south winds and a large source of moisture the orographic lifting up the slope of the mountains could also pick up around 10 inches of rain in a 24 hour period. Flooding will also be a large concern for this area.
There will be other small micro-climates that we will be keeping a close eye on for the potential for flooding over the next few days. The National Weather Service has issued a Flood Watch for the Sacramento Valley and surrounding foothills from Thursday through Monday. Not only will flooding be a concern but there will be a good chance for mud slides and rock slides especially in the areas that had fires this last summer.
The chance for rain showers will continue through the day on Saturday with yet another impulse moving through Saturday night into Sunday morning giving us another round of heavy rain. Most of the rain should be out of here by Monday.
Be sure to keep checking in for the latest updates as we continue to track these storms.