Periods of widespread Valley rain, mountain snow, and gusty winds expected this week into early next week. Holiday travel will be impacted, especially over mountain passes. Dry and cold temperatures for the middle to later part of next week.
Discussion
Rain and snow continues this morning over most of the interior and will continue through the day. Snow levels will be rising up to near 4000 feet or better over Shasta County and the coastal range to around 7000 feet over the western slopes. Locally snow levels are down to around 3000 feet over western Shasta County but steady rain has shifted east and mainly light showers continue over that area with minimal accumulations expected below 4000 feet.
There is some instability over the southern half of the forecast area today and this evening that may produce some isolated thunderstorms. Cape is weak suggesting small hail will be possible.
Breezy to locally windy conditions are expected to continue though mid to late morning hours before tapering. Winds generally 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 35 mph for the valley. Mountains may see gusts 40 to 70 mph over the ridgetops during this time period.
Showers are expected to continue tonight in the valley with more steady persistent rain/snow over the mountains. Friday morning snow levels lower to around 3000 feet over Shasta County to 4000 feet over the western slopes.
Decent rainfall may remain over the western slopes from around Plumas County southward with areas to the north tapering to showers. Additional rainfall amounts through Friday afternoon will range from (0.60) inches to around (1.00) inch. The higher totals will be over the eastern side of the valley. The western slopes will range from (2.00) to (6.00) inches.
Friday night is when the next system begins to move into the region with Saturday and Saturday night having the highest precipitation rates. Snow levels will start out around 3000 to 3500 feet but lowering on Saturday down to 2500 to 3000 feet.
Snow levels will continue to lower Saturday night before bottoming out Sunday morning 1000 to 2000 feet at the tail end of the system. Locally some snow showers may occur around Redding but precipitation should be very light if at all with minimal accumulation.
Showers look to continue on Sunday, mostly over the mountains. This system is colder than the first one with the potential to deliver almost twice the amount of snowfall to the higher elevations and some accumulating snow down into the motherlode.
Extended Discussion (Monday through Thursday)
A trough will remain over the west coast Monday and Tuesday with periods of rain. Snow levels continue to look to be very low varying mainly between 1000 to 2500 feet at times with the lowest snow levels forecast over Shasta County.
This will bring a chance of significant snowfall to the foothills…mainly on Monday. Snow levels remain low for another potential weaker system on late Tuesday into Wednesday morning although there is some uncertainty with the intensity and placement with this one at this time.
By Wednesday afternoon it looks like we could start to dry out. Temperatures will remain below normal for both the daytime highs and nighttime lows. It will be interesting to see how next week turns out as currently there looks to be the potential for temperatures to be at or below freezing by the middle to later part of next week for the valley.