Flash Flood Watch In Effect For Burn Areas

UPDATE: The National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Watch through 9 p.m. Monday for burn areas in nine northern California counties.

Forecasters say heavy rain could create flash floods and debris flows below the recent burn scars due to the potential for thunderstorms. That could bring more than 0.25 inch of rain per hour.

A Flash Flood Watch is in effect for the Valley, Rocky, Jerusalem, King, Wragg and Butte and Rim Fire burn areas in El Dorado, Placer, Lake, Colusa, Yolo, Solano, Calaveras, Amador and Tuolumne counties.

Original Post: The second major storm system of November is moving through Northern California. Downtown Sacramento saw about one-third of an inch of rain Sunday. The snow level came down below the 4,000 feet level, leaving almost a foot of powder in some parts of the foothills.

Jason Clapp is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento.

"We had a spotter report from a place about 6,700 feet which is near Kirkwood in Amador County," he says. "And he had snow starting about 4 p.m. Sunday, and then by 11:30 p.m. when he called he had eight inches on the ground."

Clapp says the Sacramento Valley could see some thunderstorms and heavy downpours Monday afternoon and night.

The National Weather Service has also issued a flash flood watch for Monday in the burn scar areas of the Butte Fire in the foothills and Valley, Rocky, and Jerusalem Fires near Clear Lake. Should heavy rains develop over the burn areas, rock slides and debris flows are possible.

"The next one, we have a little thing that brushes way up in northwest California, maybe on Wednesday but that's pretty miniscule," says Clapp. "And then the next one would be actually next Sunday. That doesn't look too impressive either. But then there's one after that a little over a week out."

-Capital Public Radio Staff