The overall pattern change that I recently talked about on sphere.com (Cold Snap to Ease, but Storms Loom) is going to result in a series of strong, wet storms for California; in fact, it’s safe to say that the weather story will shift from the Arctic cold to California storms in the coming days.
I predicted the weather for California for many years, and when the weather pattern changes, it typically does so in dramatic fashion. Between 5 and 10 storms will move through the state from later Sunday through the end of the month, and some of them will be intense.
Check with your favorite weather source for forecast details, but generally speaking, this is the type of pattern that is likely to produce flash flooding, mudslides (especially in burn areas), and perhaps river flooding, along with an absolutely incredible amount of snow in the mountains, high surf at the coast, and strong wind (especially in the mountains).
I hope that I’m wrong, but that’s what I expect to see.
In patterns similar to this, I’ve seen a series of storms produce rainfall amounts in excess of 20 inches in upslope areas (the windward-facing slopes of the mountains), both in the coastal ranges and the Sierra. Snowfall in the high mountains of the Sierra (including some ski resorts) have been known to exceed 10 feet.
–Paul Yeager
HI PAUL; THE WILD WILD WEST; MEANS BUSINESS; ESPECIALLY; SIERRAS…ONE OTHER; RELATED PROBLEM LATER ON; WOULD BE; DEVASTING; MUD SLIDES…NO FUN IN THE SUN; WHEN THAT OCCURS…AS FOR TIS STORM THAT WILL GET IT’S ACT TOGETHER; FROM THE GULF STATES; AND MOVE UP TO THE NORTHEAST; IT MAY BE MORE WET THAN WHITE; FOR US IN CT. SOME ICY CONDITIONS; A GOOD POSSIBILITY; ALSO.. SKI COND..REALLY SUPER THUS FAR; MUCH BETTER THAN LAST YEAR.. STAY AS CLOUDY AND COOL ; AS YOU CAN BE; HA HA..FRANK DELAURENTIS..
By: FRANK DELAURENTIIS on January 14, 2010
at 9:25 pm