A wet and blustery President’s Day ahead, Monday Feb 16th forecast

Skies have clouded up and a steady to even strong southerly wind is kicking up ahead of our much anticipated Winter storm. Look for some spotty sprinkles through the early evening with the best chances the farther north you go. Overnight lows will dip in to the 50's with a few places staying close to 60 as warm air will linger before the colder storm core arrives on  by early on President's Day.                                                                                                                                                                                            As for Monday, the core or center of low pressure will continue to spin just to our northwest and this will pinwheel a very wet and strong cold front right in to Central and Southern California. Rainfall rates could easily exceed our region's ability to handle it and overall rainfall totals will likely add up to create some problems. Flood watches are in place across the entire region as well as wind watches and advisories. Look for rain totals to possibly be in the 1 to 3 inch range for our coastal plains with much higher totals possible up against foothills and mountains, especially on the south and west facing slopes. Ground and wind swell from the storm will also pick up which means advisories are posted for the entire coastline. The first system will make for a blustery Monday and we are even seeing some hints that enough instability will accompany the storm and bring a chance for thunderstorms. If this occurs, the possibility for hail, strong gusts of wind and even waterspouts or tornadoes could be produced.

Showers should decrease in to late Monday evening with some lingering chances in to early Tuesday. The second and third waves of moisture will start to arrive by late Tuesday and while these should be overly strong, they will add to what is expected to be pretty heavy on Monday. Snow levels will also drop to very low levels with multiple feet possible above 5 thousand feet. This is great news for ski resorts in Southern California after having such a challenging start to Winter. More light to moderate showers will be possible through Thursday before we see a break with just slight chances for additional rain through next weekend