A pair of storm systems are forecast to bring rain and snow to Northern California this week and have prompted state officials to issue a storm warning for some parts of the Sierra. But neither of the systems are expected to be as strong as the January 2023 atmospheric rivers that inundated the region.
Meteorologists with the National Weather Service in Sacramento say the first of the storm systems arrived Tuesday morning, bringing with it dense fog. Rain is expected to fall starting Tuesday evening and last through Wednesday morning.
“We’re expecting rain to move in from the west this evening, and we're looking at around the 6 p.m. time frame,” said Dakari Anderson, a meteorologist with the weather service. He added that between a half inch and three-quarter inches of rain is expected to fall through Wednesday morning.
A winter storm warning has been in effect for the western slope of the Sierra Nevada mountain range since 10 p.m. Monday — and it will continue through early Thursday morning. Meteorologists warn of “slippery and snow covered road conditions” and recommend slowing down and using extra caution when driving.
“If people were traveling to the mountains, there would be impacts for them [at] elevations above 4,000 feet,” Anderson said. “We're expecting kind of heavy snow beginning this evening through much of Wednesday, with the heaviest snowfall being late tonight into early [Wednesday] morning.”
The second of the two storms is projected to arrive on Friday and last through Sunday morning, and it’ll be drier than the previous storm, Anderson said. He added that the Sacramento region is expected to see under a quarter of an inch of rain.
When asked about how this series of storms stacks up to last January’s series of atmospheric rivers, he said “I would say these aren’t too similar, at least for the Sacramento area” and added that “we’re not seeing a lot of rain in our forecast area compared to last year.”
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