Rachel enters the region, Sunday Oct 11th forecast

All eyes are keeping an eye on the approach of now Tropical Storm Rachel, sitting just to our southwest. Rachel has wind speeds up to and over 50 mph, pushing a strong southerly swell toward us and producing heavy rainfall. Our latest guidance computer models still keep the storm just to our south and then sliding behind us to toward the northeast. With this said, we still expect to see some rainfall. If the current trajectory holds, our southern areas could see up to a quarter of an inch or more with most areas seeing less than a tenth of an inch. However, tropical system can spawn thunderstorms and that could produce brief heavy rain and higher totals. We will keep a close eye on it through the weekend.

In addition to our tropical weather, the North Pacific is pushing a storm system southward and that is helping to reinforce a strong onshore flow. This system could gain some moisture from Rachel and that is why rain chances could linger in to early Monday. We then see mostly clear skies returning to the region and mild weather through mid week. High pressure then rebuilds over the region with an offshore flow which will bring Santa Ana winds to Southern California. This means another warm up is on the way as we head toward the next weekend.