SACRAMENTO, Calif —
A cutoff low pressure system and an associated atmospheric river supplied moderate to heavy rain across California (and even a tornado in Oroville) while light snow fell in the Sierra.
Relatively warm air associated with the storm made it a majority rain event for most of the life of the storm, but snow levels dropped to around 7000 feet but Tuesday night and the Sierra ended up picking up 2-17" of wet, slushy snow.
The system has since gone south, causing widespread flooding in the Santa Barbara area where flash flood warnings are in place. Oxnard received 3.18” in a single hour early Thursday morning with 0.87” of that total falling in just five minutes.
Since Sunday, valley rainfall totals generally ranged from 1-3" with those higher totals being in places that experienced heavy downpours due to thunderstorms.
Looking ahead to the holiday weekend, dry and seasonably cool temperatures are expected.
Frosty mornings along with patchy fog are expected in the valley thanks to high pressure overhead. High temperatures on Christmas day are expected to be right around average with mid to upper 50s expected in the valley and 40s and 50s in the Sierra. The average high temperature on Christmas in Sacramento is 55 degrees.
Another stretch of active weather is expected in the days following Christmas thanks to the arrival of a strong Pacific jet stream. The Climate Prediction Center favors wetter than normal conditions from Dec. 28 through the first week of 2024.
The first of these storms is expected on Dec. 27 or 28 with more around the new year. There is still much uncertainty in the path and strength of these storms but, more likely than not, Northern California will be entering another period of wet weather.
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