More rain and flooding await in California: Here’s the weather forecast for the next few days

It’s raining in California. The state, which is barely recovering from severe damage caused by rain and snowfall earlier in the month due to an ‘atmospheric river’, is once again on alert after a “powerful low pressure system” passed through several points. State

“The risk of flash floods is expected to rise to moderate levels in the areas affected by these rains,” he added.

The NWS Weather Prediction Center reports that heavy rain will affect this Sunday through Tuesday. “The most significant flooding is expected to occur in the Santa Lucia Mountains,” the forecast said.

In Santa Barbara County, the Santa Ynez Mountains will have a moderate risk, according to the NWS. The Santa Lucia area of ​​San Luis Obispo in Monterey Counties will also be affected.

“This is the corridor that will see the heaviest rain this Monday,” the NWS warned.

A mild hazard warning remains in place for the entire Sacramento Valley and parts of the San Joaquin Valley, as well as the eastern slopes of the Santa Lucia Mountains, where two to four inches of rain will currently be on the ground. Saturated after past rains.

Two to three inches of rain are expected in Los Angeles, mainly between Monday and Tuesday. Although rainfall won’t be as heavy as in other parts of the state, “the heavy rainfall triggered by the storm will increase any ongoing flooding risk,” the NWS warned.

Although rain from a low pressure system should taper off late Monday and early Tuesday, a powerful disturbance in the upper air levels could keep the rain forecast into Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, the Sierra Nevada and Mount Shasta will experience heavy snow avalanches on Monday, adding a few feet of elevation gain over the next two days. By Tuesday, both snowfall intensity and coverage are expected to decrease as the system pushes further inland and weakens.

In early February, California was hit by several ‘atmospheric rivers’, long, relatively narrow bands of water vapor that form over the ocean and flow into the sky, carrying much of the moisture from the tropics to northern latitudes.

They occur worldwide, but are particularly strong on the West Coast of the US, where they generate between 30% and 50% of the annual rainfall and are important for water supplies. However, they can also bring storm surges that cause flooding and landslides, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

According to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Center for Meteorological Conditions, at least 46 ‘atmospheric rivers’ were recorded along the West Coast of the United States during the 2023 hydrological year.