Heavy rain, strong winds and marine hazards arrive Wednesday night
The entire Central Coast is underneath a plethora of watches, warnings and advisories this Wednesday as an atmospheric river brings strong impacts to the entire west coast. A High Surf Advisory is set through Saturday where wave heights may reach 18ft and its possible for lower lying coastal areas to flood. A High Wind Warning and a Wind Advisory are in effect for portions of the area, starting at 7pm this evening and continuing until Thursday morning. Winds could gust up to 60mph over higher terrain while coastal areas may see sustained winds of 20-30mph. Its possible with the heavier rain expected overnight and with strong winds that the soil will be saturated enough for downed tree and power lines. In Higher elevations, a significant amount of snow is expected. Snow levels will dip down to 4,500FT. Its possible 3inches of snow will fall in areas above 4,500ft while areas above 7,000ft will see upwards of 18inches of snow. Luckily, this storm system is moving fast and will exit the area by breakfast Thursday.
A strong cold front and southeasterly winds will help this storm system dump an impressive amount of rain within a short period of time. Rainfall rates could be a third of an inch to two thirds of an inch at times and winds will stay strong. South facing beaches will be impacted the most and have the possibility of an inch per hour rainfall rates. As far as rainfall amounts, by Thursday evening it is likely most of the area will see an inch an a half to a maximum of 3inches. The heaviest rainfall will be overnight into the early morning hours. By 7am most of the heavier rainfall should be down near Ventura County and hitting LA just in time for rush hour. After 9am, heavy widespread showers turn to scattered light showers and winds calm down significantly. The second half of Thursday will still be unsettled and cooler but still calmer. Highs for the day will actually dip below average and highs will be in the lower 60s.
Friday and Saturday have a slight chance for showers to develop, but for the most part we will stay nice and dry and it will be a slight break before our next storm arrives. Highs will be a few degrees cooler and most of the area will be in the 50s, with a little peak of sunshine. By Sunday we will cool down even further and our next round of rain will arrive. Timing and amounts with this storm system still look to be tricky but its likely another moderately impactful storm will develop. More details will come soon!
